Where Plotlines go to Die
by My-Little-Poison-Secret
Summary: Basically everything I've written that has been cut for some reason or another. NONE OF THE STORIES WITHIN WILL BE COMPLETE. Some are original openings/chapters of fics that'll be posted later on upon completion. I just saw no need for them to sit around doing nothing. MXM LIGHT/L
1. Index

I'm using this 'disclaimer' as the cover for my work. The ideas and plot belong to me but the characters belong to their respective owners, as do any references made about brand names or other things that clearly do not belong to me. I do not own Death Note. Got it? Me no own. Now here's hoping that having this in the opening chapter is enough to keep me from getting sued.

Welcome to Where Plotlines go to Die. This will operate as a sort of index to keep track of what's being posted. I will most likely add to this as time goes by hence the M rating.

Death Note/Harry Potter: Opening – HAS BEEN ABANDONDED.

Death Note: Original Opening for IMMORTAL – HAS YET TO BE WRITTEN.

Death Note: Original Opening for CROSSROADS – HAS YET TO BE COMPLETED.

Death Note: Original 14 Chapters for JUDGE, JURY & EXECUTIONER – HAS YET TO BE REVIVED.

Death Note: 5 Chapters for YAGAMI SCHOOL FOR THE GIFTED - ABANDONED.


	2. HPDN

To say that Hogwarts was out-of-this-world was an understatement. The large castle and all-round magical properties were enough to testify to that. Light's entire family had gone to Hogwarts, save for his younger sister who wasn't old enough. Each one of them had spoken of the place, wonder and joy in their eyes. His father graduated a Gryffindor and went on to become Head Aura for the Ministry of Magic, his mother was a Hufflepuff and spent her time at home taking care of the house. Whilst Light was more than able to fit into every house; and his family had been very insistent on which house he should enter into, he didn't want to go into those houses. He didn't want to be a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff and whilst he had the intelligence for Ravenclaw, Light knew in his heart he wanted Slytherin; even if he had to negotiate with the raggedy old hat to allow him to. The opening addresses came to an end and the hat finished its customary song, bringing with it a wave of anticipation.

The first year students lined up in the corridor between Houses, standing in pairs even as names were called out by a blonde haired witch only named as 'Wedy', her eyes hidden behind a pair of tinted sunglasses as she stood before the students and seated staff members. Wedy and the headmaster; Quillsh Wammy, were the only ones to have given their names to the first years, the other teachers choosing to sit back and watch as preteens were sorted into their Houses.

The name L Lawliet was called and Light immediately remembered dark hair, pale skin, a terrible posture and sitting habit. They'd met on the train, and Light was sure that the young teen was destined for Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. The crowd held its breath in anticipation when the hat announced 'Gryffindor' followed by wild cheers emitted from the sea of red and gold. Light spotting Misa Amane, he's self-proclaimed 'true love' sitting amongst the Slytherin's who were eyeing the boy with varying expressions of distaste. L settled down between a blonde haired boy; Mihael Keehl, and a red head; Mail Jeevas, who immediately began conversing with one another.

It appeared that Quillsh was overjoyed at L's House placement, pride glinting in his bespectacled eyes; Light was certain he was the only one who saw and that was because he knew what to look for. It wasn't a well-known fact; Light himself wasn't even supposed to know the details, but L, Mihael and Mail were all orphans under the care of Quillish due to being abandoned by their muggle parents. Each and every one of them was a muggle-born and though Light wasn't in the same mindset as some of the other pure-blood families, he knew that should he enter Slytherin, he was capable of acting the part.

Eventually 'Light Yagami' was called and he approached the hat, ever conscious of the eyes watching his ascent, as he was amongst the last to be sorted. Sitting upon the stool Wedy dropped the hat upon Light's head and the watching eyes vanished behind folds of fabric as a voice echoed in his head.

' _Yagami? Your family has a long history of belonging to the noble Gryffindor House, but this isn't about your ancestors, and I can see you succeeding in not only Gryffindor but Ravenclaw and Slytherin also. Now where to put you?_ ' The hat trailed off, most likely due to Light's internal monologue begging for Slytherin. ' _Slytherin, eh? Yes, I can see you flourishing in that house, okay then, your House will be…_ ' "SLYTHERIN!" The hat announced before being removed and allowing Light to make his way to the sea of cheering green and silver, a smirk upon his face.


	3. Immortal Original Opening

Music thumped deafeningly in the large building, people gyrating against one another and even upon tables set aside for pole dancers. If someone had said five years ago that Ratio Yagami would end up a professional pole dancer at a seedy underground club, he would have laughed them off and sent them on their way. Five years ago Ratio and his twin brother, Kira, had the world in the palm of their hands. High ranking students in the whole of their country, popular and charismatic, they were guaranteed places in all the top universities and whatever profession they set their sights on. Five years ago they had been ordinary sixteen years olds just messing around in life. Then came the unexplainable hunger and the undetectable change in their genetic make-up. They were both attractive teens and frequently had people gazing after them, but after their sixteenth birthday those looks became outright suggestions closely followed by stalking. It seemed as though they somehow emitted a pheromone that attracted everyone around them, and that was only the beginning of their troubles.

Their hunger grew every day no matter how much they ate, and with the hunger pangs the inability to see people as more than just food became blurred. It wasn't until Kira went out one night with his girlfriend Misa Amane that it happened. Ratio had stayed at home finishing off school work when Kira came bursting through his door in a wild panic, terror in his eyes. Kira had gone on to explain that he and Misa had had sex, but when he awoke he found her dead and his hunger non-existent. They both fled their small town that night with duffle full of clothing, money and supplies and not a single note as to where they'd gone.

Five years were spent following the same routine they'd gotten down to scratch. They'd turn up in a new town with new identities and both went straight to work, for both money and food, the moment the body count hit ten they'd take off and start over again. After five years of being whatever beings they were, Ratio and Kira had worked out ways to lengthen the times between meals and lower the body count for as long as possible. Whilst they fed during sexual activities, they were also able to feed off of sexual energy even if that energy wasn't being directed towards them. That was why Kira worked as a prostitute, a way to get both a meal and money but upping their body count, and Ratio worked in a strip club. It helped that they were able to share meals with one another in the event one didn't go to work.


	4. Crossroads Original Opening

Light was five when his family was slaughtered by a gang of criminals his father, the chief of police, Soichiro Yagami was looking into. He remembers the bloodstained carpet and walls, the sirens from his father's underlings as they arrived at the scene. He remembers the folders his father had been working on before his death, the case involving something beginning with a 'Y' and a cult worshipping some God of years gone by. He was six when he was adopted by Kyosuke Higuchi, the head of the technology department of Yotsuba. He remembers leaving the small orphanage he'd been living at after the man inquired about a child of intelligence and capable of taking care of himself. As the son of a prominent business man Light was given whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, the price he paid was to play the role of the dutiful son. Higuchi was thrilled to discover that Light held an above-average IQ and saw to it that his adopted son had access to the countries best tutors. After the murder of his family Light's life revolved around business parties and school, showing his adoptive fathers partners that Light was the perfect heir. He was ten when he was introduced to Teru Mikami. Mikami was the one who introduced him to the horrors humanity could commit, as a lawyer Mikami had access to information the general public didn't and the older man took great pleasure in showing Light things no child, no matter how intelligent, should see. It was because of Mikami and Higuchi, Light grew up hating the criminal element of the world. He was fifteen when he met the World's Greatest Detective for the first time, even if he didn't know it at the time.


	5. J,J,E Chapter 1

**NEW AN: I'm even going to keep my original notes on the ones that have them.**

 **ORIGINAL AN: Taro Kagami is not one of my characters, but that of the original (first?) Death Note series, I borrowed his name cos I didn't want any oc's of my own creation running around (and it's so much easier when a character already exists, then you can manipulate things your way) this fic is an AU (or so I believe it to be), that follows closely to the cannon-plot. Very closely, at least until I begin to alter events and change scenarios.**

 **/:/:/- Means a change in location and character.**

Nobody knew who first came into existence. Whether it was the Mother of all, or Death. Over the ages they had come into agreement that it was a simultaneous creation, and that both were the first siblings to have ever been created. Over the course of millenniums both went by many names. Though neither had been born with names they were willing to adopt those given by the masses. Mother was known as Eve or Mother Nature and even though Death went by many names, his ultimately remained unchanged.

It was after some time that Eve decided to create anew a planet from the beginning. And thus the galaxy containing the planet soon to be called 'Earth' was born. After a few near misses and failed attempts Eve finally mastered the art of evolution and both she and Death watched on as the baby planet produced new creatures that grew with time or vanished with it.

Death, content to leave his sister to her nurturing, kept a watchful eye on the creations. Ensuring that none lived past their mortal lifespan. Then the birth of humanity came to be and soon Death was focussing more attention upon the planet than any other in his care. Tired of the constant deaths and never changing ends of those who walked the mortal path, Death took it upon himself to create beings to act as guardians of death. A torn piece of his darkness and an infusion of a small portion of his powers created the being that would soon be known as the Shinigami King; to all the lesser Shinigami, was born.

Soon Death was aided by the Shinigami and though they were lazy and allowed their realm to fall into disarray and rot, were addicted to gambling and needed to use books known as Death Notes to kill, they ensured that he was free to explore other ventures for the first time since his creation. Not to say that he abandoned his duty, that was impossible, he just cut back on his mass kills from every year to every other year. And it was during one of the yearly waits that Death decided to live among the mortals, changing his routine for the first time since creation.

…

 **#PRESENT DAY#**

…

Day in and day out. Nothing changed. For seventeen years he had lived among the mortals, grown bored of living as a bodiless entity he had fashioned himself a 'shell' of sorts and had begun his life as a human male living in the modern world. Living on his own in a quaint apartment and living off of almost non-existent supplies; for he had no need for such things such as food and other sustenance, the electricity, water and bed were things he succumbed to having. But he never needed to shower, for the wear of the day never stuck to him, and he never needed the bed for he never slept. The electricity on the other hand, led to things he used on a daily basis. He had built an entire background for himself that could withstand any form of scrutiny and his monetary resources weren't going to be cut off because he had made some good decisions in investing once he came to Earth. That is to say, he had been planning to make this move for some time before he went through with it and had everything needed to survive taken care of.

Burnet hair, amber eyes and lightly tanned skin, his vessel was an attractive one and he had many proclaim such things every time he went out. This of course only hid his two other forms, the first was an altered version of his shell, amber and brown tones replaced by crimsons, the ability to see people's names and lifespans was ultimately useless for him but something that manifested in that form regardless, and his favourite part of that form were the powerful black wings that graced his back. This was the form he used when he travelled unseen between realms, for not many were willing to turn away an 'angel' should he wish to reveal himself. That form was dressed in black leather pants, boots and jacket and paired with a white shirt and the silver chain that lived around his neck with an elaborately altered Egyptian Ankh that had the horizontal piece replaced with the symbol of infinity and the oval piece changed to an Ouroboros it represented his life's mission. The last version was the one closest to his true form, a skeletal being wreathed in a black hooded cloak that appeared to be a living being, gleaming red eyes set within a grinning skull and a sharp scythe that was used indiscriminately. It was this form that the humans graced him with the name 'grim reaper' and individuals endeavoured to immortalise his image in various works of art. Though he had rarely needed to use this form in the last seventeen years, it was the one he took to ensure others knew his position on the metaphorical ladder, that is to say that he didn't want nobodies challenging his right to lead. Of course regardless as to what form he was in, he was still able to see anything with a supernatural taint; as proven as he watched a wandering spirit pass through the chalkboard. As Death it was his job to help such souls pass over and it seemed as though he had another one to hunt down once class ended for the day. Sometimes spirits got lost during the transition between life-and-death and ended up roaming the earth until they managed to cross over themselves or they simply ceased to exist. Death tried to prevent those things from happening by keeping an eye on the names given to the Shinigami, for it was only the usage of Death Notes that confused the spirits.

Heaving a sign and twirling his pen in a careless manner Death; now self-christened Light Yagami, gazed unseeingly down upon his workbook. Only broken from his thoughts when the teacher called for him to read out a passage in English; something that came easily for someone who was fluent in every language to ever come into existence. Not that many within the class were paying attention anyway.

Unbeknownst to him another student sitting two rows back had his eyes set upon a black note book that had seemingly fallen from the sky only to land in the school courtyard. An aura of temptation projecting from it in siren calls.

It was in this moment of carelessness on Death's part that led to the following events. He'd grown lax during the seventeen years spent on earth and was now prone to emotional response he'd never experienced before. Unfortunately boredom was the prominent emotion felt, and that boredom led to a form of laziness he'd never succumbed to before he came to Earth.

 **#5 DAYS LATER#**

He remained sprawled out on his bed, TV on mute and homework completed in a stack on his desk. Mind abuzz with cries and screams of the dying. He was so accustomed to his birthright that he no longer even needed to dedicate so much attention to his job, but boredom had him mulling over every life he snuffed out. The woman who died during childbirth even as her son was brought screaming into the world. The teenage girl committing suicide due to a bombardment of constant bullying. The other teenager; a boy this time, wrapping his car around a tree killing him and his four passengers instantly. An older man getting gunned down in a drive-by shooting between to rival gangs.

Death was used to such things and could not even begin to summon feelings towards his duty, he treated it much the same way someone who works in an office all day does, with apathy. That was until events on the TV caught his attention along with the ripple effect of wrongness that dragged him out of his trance. Unmuting the TV he listened to the hurried voices of the news reporters even as they showed a clip of a hostage situation at a school that had come to an abrupt end as the perpetrator; one Kurou Otoharada aged forty-two and unemployed, succumbed to an unplanned heart attack. Unplanned. As in Death didn't sanctify the death to occur. Taking a deep breathe even as a spike of anger trickled though his tightly held emotions, he held it for ten seconds. Letting the breathe out slowly he turned the tv off and turned away, shrugging off his anger as he knew that every now and again the Shinigami made mistakes by killing off-plan.

' _And hopefully that'll be the last of it for a while_.' He thought as he did a mental scan for the no-doubt disorientated spirit that would be left behind. Finding the remaining 'light' of the spirit he sent it on without another thought. For his sins outweighed all else, and Hell was the only place for him. Depending on how a person lived their lives there were three options for the spirit to be sent, Heaven, Hell and Mu; nothingness, though the third option was only open for those who used a Death Note should it appear in the human world.

Normally he would take the time to go up to the Shinigami realm and ensure that the violator was warned, but he was unwilling to return to the bleak realm of perpetual ruin. Even as he came to that decision he shed his first shell for that of his second and spread his ebony wings out to their full length, ghosting through walls even as his surroundings were tinged in red and tones became crimson.

That first death was just the beginning and over the course of a few days that death toll escalated. Rumours of a new god called 'Kira' came about and even as people began choosing sides, Death never noticed the student sitting two rows behind and the corruption that had consumed him. Of course that was largely due to the fact that Death now spent much of his time judging the souls of those killed and making trips to the Shinigami realm to demand answers. He always left dissatisfied due to the lack of information he was given, he couldn't sense the user of the Death Note; for that was the only way such deaths could be carried out, and was unable to trace the Shinigami attached to the Death Note for Shinigami were created from his own powers and hid the beings from sight. He had no choice but to wait for the culprit to reveal himself.

/:/:/

Lightning and thunder filled the sky as rain poured from the heavens, obscuring a ripple in the atmosphere as a dark winged creature dropped from the sky and winged towards a residence with purposeful strokes. The Shinigami Ryuk had finally decided to track down the owner of his Death Note, and after the questions thrown about by Death, Ryuk knew that he had found someone interesting to keep him entertained for some time to come. That is, if Death didn't catch on and end everything.

"Looks like you're enjoying it." A flash of lightning heralded his entrance into the dark room, scaring the young male from his chair with a shout of fright and a thud upon impact, the Death Note clutched to his chest. "Why are you surprised? I'm the owner of the death note, Shinigami Ryuk. Seems like you've realised that ain't no normal notebook."

"Sh-shinigami?"

Taro Kagami, only son of the NPA sub-chief and classmate of Light Yagami, had taken to the Death Note like a duck to water. After the initial two names; and the torrent of guilt that had swamped him for taking two lives, Taro took up his pen and began 'judging' those he found unworthy. Criminals of all calibre's fell to his pen and within the span of a week, he'd already filled pages with names of those he judged. To find a Shinigami in his room would have been a shock to anyone, and after regaining his composure, Taro and Ryuk carried out a conversation. Both finally having found something to unite them in their quest to quell each other's boredom.

"…and, when you die. I'll be writing your name in my notebook, but, don't think that a human who uses the Death Note gets to go to Heaven or Hell. That's it." Ryuk stood towering above Taro, yellow eyes gazing knowingly upon Taro's lifespan. _'That is to say that I'll be the one to kill you, unless Death catches up.'_ Though Ryuk had no intention to tell Taro of the entity that would be beyond angry when news reached it.

"Why did you choose me? Why did you drop it?" Taro asked, belittled as Ryuk laughed mockingly at his first question.

"Why? Because I was bored." Ryuk's grin stretched across his face.

Moments passed in silence before Taro answered. "Me too. I was bored too. I'm writing down all the released names of criminals and lowering the amount of evil in the world. And they all die from a heart attack. Even an idiot will realise that _evil people are being killed_. I'm going to make the world know of my existence. That there is someone passing down judgement. Nobody will be able to do evil. I will build a world of only kind-hearted people I accept."

"Then you'll be the only bastard left…" Ryuk trailed off as Taro turned to face him.

"What are you talking about Ryuk? I may not be Japan's number 1 honour student, like one Light Yagami. But…I will be the god of this new world!" Taro exclaimed passionately even as the rays of a new day broke out over him.

"I knew it! Humans are so much fun!" Ryuk cackled in anticipation for the events the coming days would bring.

Unfortunately for Taro, his 'Kira' persona caught the attention of the governments the world over, and thus the attention of L was caught. Taro remained unaware of the meeting that had been called that gathered agencies from all over to discuss the problem, but that ignorance wouldn't remain for long.

/:/:/

 **#IN ANOTHER COUNTRY: INTERPOL EMERGENCY COUNCIL#**

"That's fifty-two we know of from just this week."

"All are heart attacks."

"All are most wanted or already imprisoned criminals."

"We should assume many others are dead that we haven't confirmed yet."

Members sat gathered within a room in a building that displayed flags of all representative countries, a large screen displayed its home page as dignitaries discussed the mass killings.

"That would mean at least 100 are…"

The audio streamed through a laptop that had been connected to the room, displaying the events unfolding even as a man sat upon the hardwood floor in whitewash jeans and a long sleeved white sweater.

"So Interpol is finally acting…I won't be able to avoid helping the police on a case like this."

…


	6. J,J,E Chapter 2

"What the hell was I thinking back then, making the Shinigami have a small portion of my own powers?" Death mused out loud, skimming through news articles that featured the escalating deaths. "That damn useless self-proclaimed King, needs to be ousted, but I honestly can't think of anyone else taking over the role other than me, and if I end up surrounded by the Shinigami for eternity then chances are high that I'll simply kill them all and go back to how I was before." _'And Look how that turned out.'_ His inner-voice mocked. Heaving a sigh, Death closed the lid of his laptop and allowed his second form to ripple over him, black wings appearing and surroundings turning red. It'd been a while since he'd last allowed himself to fly for the simple pleasure rather than work. Shooting up through the roof and into the sky Death simply glided along wind currents, only dedicating a small portion of his attention to the judging of the forced wandering spirits brought about in the mass cull of criminals.

Though if he were to be honest with himself, he wasn't exactly dedicating all his effort in finding the one responsible. Murder was a way of human life, as horrid as it may be, and Death wasn't one to interfere with a human's 'free will' unless it benefitted him. He wasn't overly concerned because it also hadn't affected him in any major way, the grown number of wandering spirits and off-list kills were annoying but they hadn't hit the so called 'point of no-return', or as it was otherwise known to him as the 'when-my-sister-throws-a-tantrum-over-her-creations-killing-one-another-off-with-a-weapon-of-my-own-creations-making' point. The moment that point was hit, Death would begin to influence the events, especially as he didn't enjoy seeing his sibling upset over such things. She'd make his life hell for quite a while before forgiving him.

"And since Eve is currently in a different dimension, I don't see that point getting reached for some time." He laughed lowly as he flew through low lying clouds, this time heading in the direction of a house he'd come to know well. Recently he had been approached by a middle-schooler by the name of Sayu Yagami, asking if they were perhaps related, and by the end of the conversation he had agreed to be her tutor. The Yagami residence had become a place he frequented after that, getting to know Sayu and her parents Sachiko and Soichiro; even though the latter was rarely around due to his work as chief of the NPA, it was an exciting experience as he'd never had parents before. Grinning wildly for a moment before his face fell into neutral lines he drifted closer to the warm and friendly home.

/:/:/

Ryuk sat upon the bed, red apple in hand even as he watched Taro writing out page after page of names. "Quite the hard worker, aren't we?" Ryuk asked, sitting up, an apple core now rested between his fingers.

"Huh?" Taro briefly glanced up at the Shinigami before looking back at the Death Note. "There's no time to waste, Ryuk. I can only write from after school until I go to bed. I have to stay within the top ranks in class. I can't sleep in class, and I still need to study at home and go to cram school and sleep deprivation is an enemy. It will diminish my health and mental capacity. Still…no matter what, I need to create a world without evil; but there just isn't enough time."

Ryuk threw the apple core into his mouth and munched on it for a bit before breaking Taro out of his trance-like state by asking a question that had been bothering him for some time. "Who's that 'Light Yagami' guy you keep going on about?"

Taro paused in his writing for a moment before continuing on at a smaller pace. "He's a guy in my class, number 1 ranked in all of Japan, he's a genius. I honestly don't even know why he even bother's turning up to class." Taro's fingers clamped down tightly around the pen in his hand. "And I always come second to him!" He spat in disgust, writing forgotten as he glared down upon the pages in hatred.

 _'Interesting.'_ "Why don't you just kill him?" Ryuk asked grinning, truly wondering if Taro would break his own 'rules' for something as petty as a placement.

"Don't be stupid Ryuk, I can't kill people I know." Taro had already begun writing at that point and Ryuk left him alone, thoughts sluggishly mulling over what he'd learned.

/:/:/

 **#IN SOME DEVELOPED NATION: ICPO INTERNATIONAL CRIME POLICE ORGANISATION#**

"So far we've counted fifty-two dead this week."

"All of them heart attacks."

"Chances are we've barely found half of them."

"Well, all these people should have died anyways!'

"Who said that?!"

"That's right! Even if they're criminals on death row, killing is still a crime!"

"But you can't be sure that it's murder right?"

"What else could it be? There's no way over 100 people could coincidently die from a sudden heart attack!"

"It must be the FBI or the CIA!"

"What the hell are you saying?!"

"But first, we should concentrate on finding out if this really is a mass murder."

"But didn't all the coroner's reports say 'heart attack of unknown origin'?"

"That settle's it. We'll have to call on L to solve this one."

The arguing voices of those gathered died off after that decision, allowing a couple of officers to converse in hushed voices. One Soichiro Yagami and Touta Matsuda were the representatives for the Japanese NPA, both sitting at desks with plaques declaring their country with the Japanese flag, microphones and headsets were seen both on the desk and the heads of the wearers.

"Chief, who is 'L'?" Matsuda asked of his superior, hand held over the microphone to prevent the question from being broadcasted around the room.

"Oh, right, this is your first meeting. L is, somebody whose name, face and whereabouts are a secret. But he can solve any case. You could call him a 'private investigator' of sorts. Anyways, we have no clue who he is. He keeps himself in the deepest secrecy, solving case after impossible case all over the world; and he's our last resort." Even as Yagami was explaining this to Matsuda, other dignitaries were discussing the same man in different tones.

"But he's kind of stubborn; L will only take on the cases that interest him."

"Stubbornness aside, how can we even contact him?!"

They were so involved in their conversations that nobody noticed the blacked-out man enter the room carrying a suitcase, until he spoke. "Gentlemen, L is already on it. L has already started working on this case." He opened the case and set up a laptop on a table that had been provided earlier.

"Watari!" The name was spoken by almost all present as they looked upon the shadowed man.

"Silence, please. I now give you the voice of L."

"Greetings to everyone at the ICPO. This is L." Spoke a mechanically altered voice from the laptop that was no doubt streaming the meeting through the webcam. "This is the biggest and most difficult case yet. An atrocious and unforgivable mass murder! In order to solve this case, I ask all of you in the ICPO to offer me your complete and total cooperation in solving this case." This request was met with sounds of contemplative silence.

"L, the ICPO has approved to give you all the assistance they can."

"Thank you. In that case, I request the aid of the Japanese police." The mechanical voice stated.

"WH-why Japan?" Yagami asked in surprise, also felt by Matsuda.

"Regardless if the suspect is a single person or a group of people, he is almost certainly Japanese. Even if he isn't Japanese, he is probably hiding there." The voice justified, bringing even more surprise to those gathered.

"Where is the evidence?" Those who were sceptical asked of L.

"The reason I believe he is in Japan is because of something I'll show you in our soon-to-follow showdown. In any case I hope that the force can be moved to Japan."

/:/:/

It was well into the afternoon when Death found himself sprawled out on his bed in nothing more than sweatpants and a tank-top. Hair dripping cold water from his shower onto his surroundings, he picked up the remote and skipped through channels until he stopped upon a news channel that cut off seconds after he'd picked the station.

"Huh?" Sitting up straighter he looked at the static in annoyance, recalling if he'd paid the bill or not, when the screen flickered back on. In another house Taro sat with Ryuk looking at the TV in surprise.

"We interrupt your programming to bring you an important announcement from the ICPO; this is being broadcast all over the world. Japanese voice over is provided by translator Yoshio Anderson."

"My name is Lind L. Taylor, widely known as 'L'."

Death noted the fact that Lind Taylor had his lifespan recently extended until the following day. Running over the numbers and what he sensed, Death knew that Lind Taylor was scheduled to be executed at this time today. ' _But instead he's being used as bait to lure the one known as 'Kira' out_.' He wasn't that concerned about the lengthening of the lifespan, if the man didn't die tonight then he'd die tomorrow; and if that didn't happen, Death would ensure it would. Whilst he was musing over that, officers at the police station were watching on in anticipation.

"Does this mean the showdown he was talking about already started?" An officer asked, watching the screen with those gathered.

"Let's just wait and see." Yagami ordered, and the room fell silent allowing the voice of the impersonator to be heard.

"To the perpetrator of these serial murders: you have committed the most abominable act in history. I will personally catch the one behind it, 'Kira' at any cost."

"At any cost." Taro mimicked mockingly in rising mirth even as Ryuk grinned on in the background. "Fool. How can you possibly catch me?" Picking up the Death Note in pride, "if you don't have this, you have nothing on me! I cannot be caught!" He dropped it to his desk and turned to Ryuk. "Ha. I was expecting the law to do something like this." He said gloatingly as he turned back into the announcement.

"Kira, I think I have a pretty good idea of what you're trying to do and why you're doing it. But what you are doing, _is evil_!"

Death couldn't help but scoff at that, knowing full well how humans had a tendency to throw things into categories of 'good' and 'evil' that tended to change depending on the era.

"Me? Evil?" Taro's gloating expression and voice had dropped to that of one angered beyond belief. "I am justice! I am the god placed here to save the weak and create a perfect world! Those who oppose that god, they are evil!" Taro had snatched up the Death Note at that point, flipping through the pages in rough movements. "You're too stupid L. If you were just a little smarter, we could have had some fun." He scratched the name Lind L. Taylor across a half-filled page in a messy scrawl absent of his usual neatness and began the death countdown.

"…Police all over have already begun to investigate."

The count hit 0 and Lind Taylor clutched at his chest in agony even as the camera's continued rolling. Slumping over he moved no more. A bark of victorious laughter escaped Taro even as it built in crescendo. Death simply remained sitting in silence, expression unchanged, as he waited for the rest of the act to continue. Two men in black suits and glasses appeared on screen to remove the corpse even as a disembodied mechanical voice came out over the speakers.

"Unbelievable… I did this on the off-chance that you would kill 'me'. So, Kira, you can kill people without even being nearby. So it's true after all. If I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes I would never have believed it. But this was the only way you could have killed them, wasn't it? Kira, listen to me, the person you killed was actually a prisoner sentenced to be executed at this time today…not me. He was a criminal imprisoned without any media attention, so naturally even you didn't know he existed."

Taro sat in stunned silence even as Ryuk commented on what L had said. "Heh, got you there."

"But I, L, am real! So why don't you kill me!" The voice continued challengingly. "Come on! Do it!" He taunted to the concern of the police still watching and the entertainment of the gathered masses. "Come on! Kill me! What's wrong? Can't do it? Seems like you can't kill me after all. So there are people you can't kill. Thanks for the hint. Let me tell you something in return. I said this was a worldwide live broadcast, but it's really only being shown in the Kanto area of Japan. I was planning on doing this at other prefectures, but now that's unnecessary. I know now that you're in the Kanto area. The police might have missed this, but I know your first victim was a murderer in Shinjuku. Compared to all the other criminals who died of similar causes, this guy seems insignificant and only the Japanese media reported this incident. That was the only clue I needed to know you're in Japan Kira! And that was just a test for your killings! I got lucky, casting my net out to the most populated area in Japan. I really didn't expect my plan to go so well. Kira, it's not far from the day you die. Kira I'm extremely interested in your killing method. I'll figure it out, when I catch you!"

"So…you think you can send me to the executioner?" Taro got to his feet, glaring at the screen with a burning passion as he spoke aloud words that mirrored L's. "L…"

"Kira…"

"I will hunt you down and destroy you!"

"I am…"

"I am…"

"Justice!" The combined exclamation left the both of them in equal tones of impassioned vehemence.

"See you Kira." The mechanical voice cut off and the station returned to its normal showing.

"Each of you is searching for an opponent whose identity is a mystery and the first to be found out will die." Ryuk predicted, unknowingly saying aloud the same thought's that went through Death's mind. ' _Humans are so interesting_.'

"I will win this." Taro vowed, not even hearing as Ryuk responded.

"Heh, I'll be looking forward to the result."

/:/:/

"Welcome to the playing board new player. I sincerely hope that you can keep up L Lawliet." Death said in a low tone as he shut off the TV and turned his attention to a photo displayed on his laptop. "Because Taro Kagami is playing with an unfair advantage." He closed down the laptop with a grin and settled down upon the pillows, cold from his drip-dry hair.

…


	7. J,J,E Chapter 3

Shinigami gathered together in the barren realm, each of them more different than the next, and all talking about a certain missing Shinigami.

"Hey, we haven't seen Ryuk in a while, have we?"

"Did he seriously drop his Death Note in the human world?"

"Yeah, but not only that, he supposedly had two notebooks."

"Why two?"

"Not only that, but Death's been coming here more than usual. You don't think that Ryuk's Death Note fell into the hands of someone actually using it?"

"Death must be pretty mad about that."

"I don't think it bothers him much actually. He hasn't done anything about it, and we all know he can."

"Ryuk and his human are treading a thin line."

/:/:/

The human and Shinigami in question sat in silence in Taro's bedroom. "You seem tired, Taro." Not that the silence lasted long. Indeed Taro had gained small bags under his eyes since the confrontation between him and L, taking the time in his day to simply relax without writing in the Death Note for once.

"I'm taking a little break. I want to see what the police do. And I guess I'm a bit tired as well. All you hear about these days is talk about L and Kira. But if I wasn't Kira, I'd probably enjoy it too. All the magazines are saying the same thing, same with the TV and radio stations. Kira must be getting tired from all this too. Sometimes I've just got to take it easy and take a break." Taro picked up a discarded magazine and flipped through the pages until he reached the article about Kira and L.

"Take it easy? For somebody who's got the entire world's police force hunting for him, you sure have some confidence." Ryuk stated from his position on the bed.

Taro got to his feet and grabbed the Death Note. "When I first found this notebook, the reason I was so set on ridding the world of evil was because I was confident I could fight back if the authorities ever moved against me." He remained standing, regarding the notebook in his hands with a smile upon his face.

' _He sure has a lot of confidence_.' Ryuk thought looking at the teenager.

/:/:/

Ever since the showdown between L; L Lawliet, and Kira; Taro Kagami, Death hadn't done much to alter their paths, remaining focussed on his school work and extracurricular activities. That isn't to say that he was ignorant of what was going on; he'd have to be deaf and blind to miss the amount of attention the media was lavishing on the pair, but he wasn't so intent on stopping Taro from using the Death Note. He had of course noticed that Taro had begun losing sleep after the incident, not much for it to be noticeable but still enough for it to make an impression on Death. He had yet to see the Shinigami attached to the human, though that was probably because the Shinigami remained outdoors.

His thoughts came to a halt when he reached the front door of the Yagami home, only to have it fly open before he could knock. Sayu stood beaming in the doorway before stepping out of the way and latching onto Death as she dragged him into the house, Death closing the door behind him as the younger teen dragged him into the dining room.

"Thank you for coming today Light," she said with a smile, letting go of him as she bent down and picked up a book. "Quadratic equations!" She said with a beaming smile, the book thrust out in front of her.

He returned the smile with a smaller, but no less genuine, one. "Okay, let's get this done." Before they went anywhere he went to the kitchen entrance and said his usual greetings to Sachiko who returned the sentiment and offered him dinner, which he accepted not out of hunger but because he liked her cooking. Death and Sayu both retreated to Sayu's room to keep out of her mother's way and ensure they wouldn't be disturbed when Sayu was working.

/:/:/

A young man stood staring blankly at a bare door, mind abuzz with the past showdown and thoughts about it. _'How come he couldn't kill me then? Did he just not try because I'm not a criminal? No, in that situation, he definitely must have tried to kill me. So it must have been because he didn't know what I look like.'_

"L." The voice broke his thoughts and he turned his attention to the computer.

"What is it, Watari?" He asked, voice bare of any trace of alteration.

"The investigators, report is about to begin." The older man dressed in black said from the computer screen.

"Good, patch me through." L responded, kneeling before the computer setup that remained on the floor in the bare room.

"Let's move on to the victims report." Yagami said, sitting behind a large desk in a room full of police officers and Watari with the laptop connecting them to L.

"Information on all the victims that died of heart failure could indeed have been discovered from Japan. In addition, concerning the timeframe of these deaths, as per L's request. Monday through Friday, all these deaths occurred between 4pm and 2am Japan time. Weekdays and holidays, between 11am and into the middle of the night. These times are much more inconsistent though." The detective speaking sat down once he finished his report, eventually each report was made and soon they were calling it an end.

"Anything else?" Yagami asked the room of sitting detectives, when no one answered he turned his attention to L. "L, that's all we have to say."

"Thank you. I think we're getting close. Before I leave, I have one more request. This is for the victims unit, the media unit and the internet unit. I'd like you to carefully examine how the Japanese media reported information on these victims. I need to know whether or not any images of the perpetrators were shown. Thank you for your cooperation." Upon the end of his speech Wateri disconnected the laptop and closed it.

"On that note, night shift goes to team two. Everybody else, either continue the investigation or go home and rest up. That is all." Yagami said, addressing his subordinates.

/:/:/

"Wow, you're so smart!" Sayu exclaimed from her leaning position against the desk.

"Do you understand now?" Death asked, pen in hand and written on sheets of paper spread out before the two of them as he looked at her in question, knowing that she would answer with a positive even if she didn't understand.

Sayu paused for a moment before she responded, lacking confidence in her answer. "Uh…yeah, sure." She said just as the doorbell rang and her mother called out. "Looks like dad's home." She said after a moment, glancing towards her bedroom door and getting to her feet.

"Hey! At least solve the last problem by yourself, okay?" Death asked, again knowing that this time he'd get a negative. He was proven right when Sayu responded just as her mother called out to them.

"I'll do it after dinner."

"Light! Sayu! Dinner! Come on down!"

Death followed Sayu out of her room as she rushed down the stairs in order to greet her father. "Coming! Welcome back, dad!" He heard her call even as he reached the ground floor and greeted Soichiro himself. Following them both into the kitchen where he pulled up a chair that was now always waiting for him. Sachiko had laid out a spread; obviously aware that her husband would be home for dinner that night, and even though he was never hungry even Death piled up a decent amount of food.

"So Light, how is school?" Soichiro asked, during a lull in conversation.

Dropping his chopsticks away from his mouth before he answered, Death gave a small shrug. "Not bad. Same old, same old." He answered, unwilling to go into too much detail for he knew he'd bore himself to sleep, luckily Sayu jumped in with her own comment.

"That's right, same old top-of-the-class student right!" She exclaimed happily even as Sachiko jokingly added in.

"Our same old pride and joy!" The Yagami's had unofficially adopted Death into their family, their home had become his second once they found out he had no one. Death thought it was a safe bet that they considered him as the son they never had; the son they had lost due to a miscarriage, and he was fine with filling that void in their lives.

"And how about you, Sayu?" Soichiro asked of his daughter, catching her slightly unawares.

"Me? Uh, same as always, I guess. Ha-ha…" She trailed off happily filling her face to keep from getting asked any more questions.

"I see," Soichiro said in a heavy sleep laden voice.

"Um, Mr Yagami, you seem tired." Death said with a small amount of concern. ' _Of course it'd be due to the Kira investigation that's going on right now_.'

"Yeah, I'm working on a tough case, that's why. It's like trying to catch a ghost. Only, today the big boss suggested that based on the times of death, we may be looking for a student."

"Let's not talk about this at dinner time." Sachiko butt in, ending the conversation between them as Death finished off his meal. Unknown to them another family was sitting down holding the same conversation, of course the information about the killer being suspected of being a student was dually noted by the one of the attendees of that dinner.

"Thanks for the dinner Mrs Yagami." Death said, stacking his cutlery and standing. "Sayu, we're done with the homework right?" He asked as he took his dishes to the kitchen to be put into the sink.

"Yep, thank you." She said, turning to look over her shoulder as he returned.

"You're still getting help from Light, Sayu?" Soichiro asked, causing Sayu to pull a face.

"It's okay Mr Yagami, it's not like I've got anything better to do with my time. But it's late, and since Sayu's done with her work I think I should be heading off." He waved goodbye to those sitting gathered at the table, leaving before Soichiro could offer him a ride home. It was something that came up every time and though Death appreciated the concern for his safety, he was Death, and it wasn't as though someone could kill him even if they tried. So he had managed to convince the Yagami's to allow him to travel around by himself. And as he took to the night sky and relished the brisk wind, he was glad he had won that argument.

/:/:/

"Well, well. Not only do they know you're in Kanto, but they also know you're a student." Ryuk said as he and Taro entered Taro's bedroom, a permanent grin that stretched across his face and had only gotten wider when he found out that Taro's father was the sub-chief of the very police force that was trying to catch him.

"So? I've been giving it away with my actions. Now it's time to take the Death Note to the next level. According to the rules if you write 'heart attack' you can still put conditions on the death, as long as it's written before 6 minutes and 40 seconds passes. I might just be able to entertain you a little bit longer." Taro sat at his desk, Ryuk standing beside him and the rules written within the death note looking up at them.

/:/:/

# **THREE DAYS LATER** #

"What? Twenty-three more deaths just yesterday?" Yagami exclaimed standing on his feet with his arms bracing him against the desk as he surveyed two police officers standing before him. "When will it end? The same thing happened on the day before. Every hour on the hour, one after another. For this to happen two weekdays in a row..." He drifted off in disbelief.

"I think our student theory has a hole in it."

"Wait, he could have just skipped school those days and…" The officer was cut off when an electronic voice spoke over him.

"That's not it! That's not what Kira is trying to do! He's trying to tell us, he can kill whenever he wants." ' _And, he wants us to know that he has some means to attain our information! He's challenging me directly_.' L thought as he spoke to the police.

/:/:/

"Oh, so that's what you were up to, Taro." Ryuk said impressed, as he glided behind Taro who was approaching an abandoned building.

"Heh, yep, and I think L is starting to get a bit flustered. Just for this plan I've set aside 50 more targets. However, there's still another problem to face. You're visible to whoever touches the Death Note, right? Until now, if my family ever saw it, I thought I could make the excuse that I'm just keeping tabs on the Kira case so I can study to be a detective. It's not all that strange, I know that even Light keeps notes on cases for when he becomes a detective. I'm walking on a tightrope either way. If Kira isn't careful, he'll end up…killing his own family."

…


	8. J,J,E Chapter 4

**#FBI HEADQUARTERS#**

An older man sits at a simply cared large wooden desk, United States flag hanging beside him and a Coat of Arms displayed behind the desk. The man wore an intense expression even as he both spoke into the phone and listened to the voice from the other end.

"Yes, I want you to thoroughly and secretly investigate the Japanese police. Especially those connected to the Kira case."

"L, are you saying Kira is one of the investigators?" The man asked of the mechanical voice.

"Definitely."

"But we are already swamped…"

"Kira's already killed 327 American felons. That's the most of any other country by a huge amount."

"A-alright. We'll do it." The man doesn't seem confident in his decision, face lined with tension.

"Thank you. For the reputation of the FBI, I'm sure you'll do your best." The mechanical voice hung up, thus ending the conversation between them.

#

"Watari, the FBI have begun their investigation and have given me the list of people working on the case." L said, speaking to the darkened figure of Watari though the laptop screen.

"Yes, they've been here for four days." Watari replied.

L began to shuffle through the pages of the 141 people who had access to the information regarding the case. All the time thinking that Kira must be amongst them. Discarding the pile, which slid revealing pages of information to be seen, L ignored the mess. Had he not ignored this, he would have seen that the pages that now were displayed were those on the Yagami family; wrongfully listing Light as their son, and the Kagami family.

/:/:/

 **#A FEW DAYS LATER#**

Death had known the moment one Raye Penber had begun to follow him. Not through any wrong on the agent's part, it was simply because Death knew that someone was tailing him, kind of like a sixth sense kind of deal. He was followed to and from school, to and from cram-school; where he frequently was forced to dodge the Shinigami Ryuk who'd finally decided to tail Taro everywhere, and from where ever he had gone out to, back to his home. This happened routinely every other day, the day's he wasn't tailed was when Raye was following Taro and whoever else it was he was watching; though he knew that Taro had only been tailed for two day's as opposed to Death's five.

He'd grown so used to having the man following him that he was tempted to simply call off his faux ignorance and invite the man to simply hang out with him instead of freezing outside in all weathers. It helped that he was attractive. Death scoffed at the thought, it wasn't something he would have noticed before he's time on Earth, but he'd more and more frequently begun to notice the attractiveness of certain humans. He had yet to act on what he was feeling, more content to continue as though it didn't interest him.

What really intrigued him, was how he ended up on L's radar in the first place. It wasn't as though he'd gone out of his way to gain scrutiny; he wasn't even related to anyone who had access to information regarding the case, not that it would prevent him from finding out whatever it was he wanted to find. He had concluded that it was simply because he lived in the Kanto area and was intelligent enough to pull it off. Taro on the other hand; whilst intelligent, had access to his father's computer and therefore the files stored upon it.

He came to a stop near the table displaying strawberries for sale. With a small shrug he added four cartons to his basket, to go along with the milk and coffee he'd picked up. After he had gained a tail, Death decided to start picking up groceries to ensure that people wouldn't start snooping should they think he wasn't eating. Though he still never brought much and even then, when he did most of it was never to his tastes. It was times like now that he was thankful for Sayu running into him that day. The Yagami's ensured that he ate whilst there; and therefore he had people to vouch for him should the topic come up. He didn't know what would happen to him, he was listed as seventeen years old, but he was more than capable of taking care of himself. He wouldn't let some FBI agent ruin his freedom out of 'concern'. The moment he left Death could stop making unnecessary trips and wasting money on things he had no need for.

Catching sight of Raye as he paid for his things, opening a carton of strawberries once he left the store, he noted that the man's lifespan had dropped a day since Death had last focussed upon him enough to know. ' _Must be because of Taro_.' He thought grimly, delicately biting into a strawberry. These were something that he planned on buying more of. By the time he reached his apartment, he'd polished off a carton of strawberries and was well into the second one. Raye left an hour after Death had settled into his kitchen, no doubt he was off to check in on one of his other charges. Not a few minutes later Death had flown to his cram class. Not that he needed to go, but he had decided to keep an eye on Taro and Ryuk during the times he was able to; unwilling to risk going in his Shinigami form for Ryuk might sense his presence.

The first thing that caught his eye, before he pulled up his hood on his jacket, was Ryuk who kneeled next to Taro, watching the students work upon their homework and assignments. The second was that Raye was situated across the street with a clear view of those working within the room, and he was most definitely following Taro as he was the only one; aside from Death, that would ever be suspected of being Kira that would be in the building. He sat in the last row at the back, avoiding Taro and Ryuk and kept his hood up to ensure that Ryuk wouldn't see the anomaly above his head.

/:/:/

Cram school went by just as slowly as it usually did. Ryuk spent most of the time entertaining himself, which was good for Taro as he needed to concentrate on his work to ensure that his marks didn't drop too far. He was ever aware of Light, sitting at the back of the classroom and unhesitatingly finishing off subject after subject. He was relieved when class let out and he left the room before Light did, simply so that he wouldn't be tempted to use the Death Note out of jealousy. It wasn't until he was walking down the street with Ryuk floating behind him like some creepy pet, that Ryuk broke the silence.

"Taro, I need to tell you something."

"I told you not to talk to me in public. People can hear the difference in our voices." Taro snapped in a hushed voice.

"That's why I need to tell you now." Ryuk insisted to Taro's surprise. "I don't hate you, and in some ways I feel you're the perfect owner for the Death Note. And I have to stay until either you die or the Death Note is filled. But, I'm not on your or L's side." He went on.

"I already know this," Taro said, unimpressed by the information.

"So, I don't care if what you're doing is right or wrong. But since we live together, there's something I need to say. What I'm about to say isn't for Kira. It's just that I feel uncomfortable not saying it. I've been following you this whole time, so I noticed immediately. It's quite annoying. For the last two days, you've been followed by somebody. Even if this guy can't see me, I get the feeling I'm being watched. And it's not just you he's been tailing, but Light Yagami also." Ryuk finished, not noticing as Taro's eyes widened and then narrowed in thought.

"How annoying. I'll get rid of him as soon as possible." Taro said aloud, even whilst scheming a way to enact that plan. Greeting his mother he went straight to his room; checking on the warning system he'd set up, before entering his room and locking the door behind him. ' _Since the report was leaked L has been suspicious of anybody related to the investigation team, He's even investigating my father. Furthermore the information was leaked six days ago and I've only been followed for two. Out of the 50 or so people being investigated, there is no chance of me being found out as Kira. But if I ignore this for a few months, I become a possible suspect. It doesn't even help that Light is being followed; they'll find nothing on him, even if he is more than capable of acting as Kira. First I must find the name of the person following me. Everything will become much simpler once I figure that out. How should I ask his name without arousing suspicion?_ '

"Taro." Ryuk said and gained Taro's attention. "There are two key differences between a Shinigami and a human who uses the Death Note. Shinigami have to use the Death Note because the Shinigami can use the human's life. If you put a sixty year old person down as forty in the Death Note, the twenty years of life you didn't account for are added to the life of the Shinigami. So long as a Shinigami doesn't get lazy; or anger Death, he'll never die. Even if he gets shot or stabbed. You could say that we are gods. But I've seen Shinigami who died because they became too lazy and didn't write new names for 700 years. I'm not sure of this myself, but I heard it's possible to kill a Shinigami. To be honest, the Shinigami world is rotting. Nobody's life has purpose. Nobody's life has meaning."

"Ryuk you're so silly!" Taro cut in loudly. "A Shinigami comes down to Earth every 100, no, every 1000 years and the human world changes so much in that time. This is surly a meaningful existence. If you say the Shinigami world is rotting now, you can use what you see here in the human world to fix it right?"

"Taro, you're an optimistic kind of guy. I'm sure Death would be pretty mad if he heard me saying such things." Rushing on before Taro could question that statement Ryuk continued with what he was explaining earlier. "Anyways, your lifespan wouldn't be extended by the people whose names you write down in the Death Note. This is the first key difference I was talking about. We Shinigami can simply look down on the human world, and choose which human's name to write on the Death Note. Sometimes there will be a whole lot of people everywhere, but most of the time we just pick the first one we see."

"It's just luck, isn't it?" Taro asked, Ryuk drew himself up into Taro's face with a grin.

"But how can we know their name just by looking at them? The eye of the Shinigami. A Shinigami can look at a person's face and see their name and lifespan. We get a clear idea of who we're killing and how much it would add to our own lives. The true difference is our eyes. Also, when the Shinigami and the person who touched the Death Note make a deal, they can trade eyes. The price for the Shinigami eyes is…half of the person's lifespan. For example, if you have fifty years left to live, it changes to twenty-five. If you have one year, it becomes six months. I'm able to see your name and lifespan as well Taro. I can convert it to human time and get a very clear idea of how much time you have left. But of course I won't tell you this. You only need half your lifespan for the eyes of a Shinigami."

"As long as you see their face, you will know what anyone's name is."

…


	9. J,J,E Chapter 5

In a crowded office a phone rang shrilly, cutting through the voices of those working. "Yeah, it's me." Yagami said, having picked up the ringing phone. "Six more? Heart attacks. That's Kira." He said into the receiver, even as two other agents muttered over the case in angered tones. "What?!" Yagami exclaimed, drawing attention to himself. "Three acted strangely before they died? What do you mean? Not just heart failure?"

"No, one drew a picture and another wrote some kind of suicide note." The voice on the other end explained.

"Hold on. I want to input these details. Tell me slowly." Yagami set up the laptop and brought up a program. "Okay. Name? Misaaki Shirami, the serial arson who killed thirteen people."

"Yes. Shirami was inside the jail when he cut his own fingers and drew with his own blood. He left some kind of circle with a star in it on the wall. Yadanaka left us with a strange note. I'll send a copy right away, but it looks like he already knew about Kira, making for a rather strange message. The strangest of them all was Yoda. He escaped the jail, went to the nearby restroom and…"

/:/:/

Beep. Beep. Beep. A seemingly unattended computer signalled an attempt at making contact. With a simple click of the mouse L brought up his webcam and began to engage Watari in conversation. "What's wrong Watari?" He asked, receiving an immediate answer.

"We just received word of some new heart attack victims, but of a strange nature."

"Strange nature?" L questioned.

"I'll send you the related images."

"Thanks." They ended their conversation and moments later an email was received. Upon opening it L found what Watari had said he was to expect, the suicide note and pentagram in blood. ' _A message made from fear of Kira. It could be taken as something that the criminal did just on his own. But Kira can control the time of death. If he can manipulate the victim's actions of death as well_.'

"Chief! For these victims, please do not announce them in any more detail then 'dead of heart failure'. There's a possibility that Kira is conducting a test, we may be feeding the results to him through the media." L ordered of the officers gathered before his webcam.

"Fine." Yagami agreed. "Toying with people's lives? I will not allow it!"

' _If he's experimenting with them. What does he hope to discover_?'

/:/:/

"Look at this Ryuk. The test results are already entered into my father's computer." Taro gestured to the file containing the results mentioned. "It turned out just as I expected. I can use the Death Note like this after all. Even with the Death Note you can't do the impossible, but if the actions are within the restrictions set by the Death Note, you can have them do whatever you want before dying." He explained before continuing with his plan. "Anyways, these six were just tests for another test. The next test will decide everything. The outcome of this test in the morning paper will be enough. L and the police won't see this one at first. And even L will never discover my true purpose. That P.I. will definitely be concentrating on the riddle of the victim's note and drawing for a while. Even though they're meaningless." Taro focused again upon what he was writing into the Death Note, the picture of a criminal up on his screen whilst Ryuk stood by the desk in grinning silence.

/:/:/

In a dark room bare of anything save for its resident and computers, L sat crouched in front of a lit up computer, thumb to his lip in thought and the suicide not on display. ' _If Kira was experimenting with those criminals, what was he experimenting to find out? If he moves right now, he might attract the attention of the F.B.I. But if it wasn't just an experiment. The writing and that symbol. Some kind of message… Ah! What's this_?' The unfinished message read 'L did you know', and instead of answering his questions, it simply brought forth more.

/:/:/

"Why didn't I think of doing this before?" Death mused aloud as he sunk deeper into the warm water, feeling the soothing heat warm up his wings from the uncomfortable chill they seemed to have gained during his last night flight. It was mainly due to the drop in temperatures as it neared winter, and only somewhat concerned him as he was never able to feel the cold in years before. Recently he had discovered the interesting, and somewhat delectable, tastes of wines and other such beverages. And though he wasn't legally able to purchase alcohol, he still managed to get his hands on quite a nice variety of wines to choose from, and naturally he had cheeses and fruits to go with them. Rising from the tub, causing rivets of now lukewarm water to run down his from and drip from his wings, he stepped out of the tub; as dry as he was before he entered. Letting the water out he headed into the kitchen where he grabbed a glass and opened the fridge, grabbing an already opened bottle and snacks he leisurely walked back to his table.

' _Perhaps I should put a bathrobe on_.' He discarded the thought before it even fully registered. It wasn't as though he was expecting guests, and it was his apartment. He found it more comfortable to allow his wings unrestricted movement after hours of being confined to his human shell, and changed into his Shinigami form whenever he got home after a long day. Heaving a sigh, and finishing his glass, Death eyed the still over-halfway full bottle in contemplation. "Nah," he again discarded the thought as he got to his feet and returned the bottle to the fridge and put the glass into the sink. Picking up the untouched food he wandered off towards his laptop where he perched himself in a comfortable position on his bed with his wings ghosting through the mattress. It appeared that regardless of what form he was in, or what dimensions he travelled, he was still bound to fall into pitfalls of boredom. Even the game of cat and mouse played by Taro and L grew boring as both players retreated to the shadows to plan their next moves.

He snapped out of his musings as he watched his finger trace a symbol of the occult on his knee, even as the disembodied, taunting sentence 'L did you know' floated through his mind. _'Looks like Taro is seeing how far he can manipulate the people controlled by the Death Note.'_ He felt as the three test subjects died as their rescheduled ends were met. He dispersed of the displaced spirits and gobbled down a strawberry as he began streaming online videos; not particularly interested in hacking the police computers to find out what Taro had done. _'Though if I were to do so, I'm sure I could find L.'_ Death knew where L was, just as he was aware of everything that lived, but he considered that cheating and for the most part ignored his curiosity regarding the unknown detective. Raye was once again outside keeping tabs on him; making him wonder why they had one man following multiple suspects, when a shiver ran down his spine causing his wings to rustle. Tugging up the bed sheets so they covered him he continued clicking through videos for one that sounded even vaguely interesting, before settling on some horror-flick.

#

The warm rays of sunlight and noises of the outside world snapped him out of his trance and he glanced down at his laptop; unsurprised to see that the battery had run dead. Sighing, he picked up his discarded plate and laptop and got up from the bed. Throwing on a pair of sweatpants he put the laptop onto the charger and put his plate into the sink; quickly washing up the accumulating cutlery, when his phone sounded shrilly from behind him. Frowning as he dried his hands; as he didn't recall giving out his number to anyone, he shifted through his pile of dirty clothing as he searched for the still ringing device. Finding it in the pocket of a pair of jeans he was tempted not to answer the phone when he saw it listed as 'private'. _'Then again, it's not like it's going to affect me in any way.'_ He slid his finger across the answer button and held it to his ear.

"Hello?" He asked, silence briefly met him on the other end before a familiar voice responded.

"Hey Light, sorry if I woke you." Taro's voice didn't sound even the slightest bit sorry as he continued on. Death pulled up a chair and sat down heavily upon it, wings shifting in annoyance. "I'm free today and was wondering if you'd like to go somewhere with me? I tried calling some others, but they were either busy or in bed still. So are you up for it?"

Death knew that he was being manipulated somehow, most likely to provide an alibi or even damn his own innocence…but…he was bored. ' _And it's not like I can die anyway_.' He turned his attention to the phone still held in his hand. "I should ask how you managed to get this number, but to be honest I simply don't care. I'm free, where and when should we meet?" From that decision onwards Death knew that he's fate was tied to Taro's, not that it bothered him.

Upon having ended the call, Death stood from his sitting position and fazed out of his Shinigami form into that of his human one. Throwing a single glance at the cloths that needed to be washed, he went to his closet and changed into a jeans, sweater and sneaker combo; throwing on sunglasses and a hooded jacket for extra measures against Ryuk's eyes. He knew that his illusion wouldn't falter; unless his human or Shinigami forms were injured, but he wasn't willing to take the risk. He didn't want the Shinigami blowing his cover with an act of worship and reverence. _'Though I would love to see how Taro would react_.'

He turned to his laundry with a look of determination. He wasn't meeting with Taro until later, that gave him plenty of time to do his washing and folding; something he had been putting off for as long as possible. When he had last visited the Yagami's, Sachiko had offered to do his washing for him, something he had politely declined out of embarrassment. He knew how to use a washing machine and dryer, he just didn't like to. He was more inclined to buy a whole new wardrobe then wash, but since his tail had turned up he had tried to be more 'human'; 'tried' being the key word. Sighing he grabbed his hamper and made his way to the door; grabbing loose change for the shared machines, on his way out.

/:/:/

Meanwhile Taro sat at the kitchen table, a finished plate of food and an opened newspaper in front of him. "Looks like I have someone to help me out," Taro said with a laugh.

"Why Light though? I thought you didn't like him." Ryuk questioned from the other side of the table; a bowl of apples within his sights.

"Because you said that Light was also under suspicion. Should anything go wrong, he'll go down with me, and hopefully he'll distract the detectives enough for me to weasel my way out of trouble. After all, compared to Japan's number 1 student, who am I?" This part was said with a snarl as Taro again acknowledged his shortcomings. "I think that he's had things come easily to him for too long, it's time for him to have his world shaken up a bit."

Taro grabbed the paper and retreated to his room. "For my directions to be carried out in such detail," he said in awe; looking upon the article and the page of the Death Note that made it come about, grabbing a pen and flipping to a new page. "Alright, now the real fun begins. I'll use the guy on the news last night. This ice addict tried to rob a bank but couldn't get any money. He shot a teller and a customer before he made his escape." The image of the man was shown upon Taro's computer screen.

…


	10. J,J,E Chapter 6

Death leaned against one of the posts supporting a bus shelter and glanced down at his phone even as Taro and Ryuk came into sight. He wasn't quite sure what Taro was playing at, inviting him on this little trip to an amusement park of all things. ' _It would make more sense if he'd asked some girl to go with him, that way he can make it appear as a date. Unless..._ ' Death's thought's trailed off as he looked Taro up and down. ' _Nope, not my type. And even if he was, I get the feeling that he's not interested in anything like that anyway. Unless he can manipulate his 'partner_ '.' Even from where he rested; eyes covered by his sunglasses, he could make out what was being said between the two beings.

"A guy's day out?" Ryuk had asked as he caught sight of Death.

"Yeah, going out with a friend won't rouse any suspicion from the follower." Taro had responded.

' _Follower? I'm right about him knowing about Raye then_.' Death thought even as the pair continued their conversation as they approached.

"You made a day plan so you could get the follower's name." Ryuk said aloud.

"Ryuk, didn't you read what I wrote in the Death Note?" Taro asked in annoyance.

"Nope. If I looked it would be boring." Ryuk responded.

"Then you'll just have to watch." Taro said before ceasing his conversation with the Shinigami; unaware that Death was well aware of what was going on. "Sorry, am I late?" Taro asked as Ryuk fell into silence.

Death straightened from his leaning position and glanced at the bus scheduled. "You and I both know that there's still five minutes until it arrives." Death pointed out as he kept a wary eye on Ryuk.

"Ah, yeah." Taro said in an unenthusiastic voice.

"But I thought you had no plans on going out until you finished with your exams." Death said, simply curious to see how Taro would respond to the indirect taunt.

"Well, I thought I should take a break since I do so well on the practice exams. And it never seems to hurt you whenever you slack off." Taro pointed out defensively.

Death couldn't help but tilt his head in slight confusion at that. He may get bored easily and thus distracted, but he never slacked off. Even at that moment he was ending lives and ferrying souls to their respective destinations. "I guess you're right about that," he said in response, eyes glued to Ryuk even as he agreed.

/:/:/

' _Normally when you both go out, it's either to school, night school or the shops and his parents; in Light's case. But now you're both going to an amusement park together? They're obviously both normal, no, excellent students_.' Presence known by both his targets but thoughts unknown to them, Raye Penber continued jolting down his observations. The bus pulled up and he rushed to get on behind the pair he was trailing. ' _Inspector Kagami and Yagami's sons are not suspicious. There is no need to further investigate these families. I'm done with this assignment after today_.' He got on and sat down behind the pair, catching the tail end of a conversation about universities.

/:/:/

Death watched Raye and Taro from the corner of his eye; well aware that Ryuk was currently in the aisle. He saw as Taro's eyes widened slightly in excitement and turned to see what the cause was. A man by the name of Kiichiro Osoreda stood alone at the bus station; his death already having been determined for minutes after he got on the bus, and as he got on, Death knew what Taro had planned.

' _I can stop this. I can prevent his plan from going any further_.' Even as he considered this, he was ever aware of Raye's dwindling lifespan as it fell from decades to months to weeks. What held him back was the uncertainty of his actions. He'd never stopped anyone from dying; if they lived past their time then Death ended it. He had never even considered allowing people to live longer than they were given, but as a small grin played at the corner of Taro's lips and the criminal walked down the aisle, Death had a moment of true uncertainty overcome him. ' _It's not like I'd be lengthening his lifespan, Raye is supposed to live longer than this, but if I do interfere then I'll be exposed_.' He bit his lip and kept quiet on the matter.

/:/:/

The man had made it to the front of the bus at that point and pulled a gun, which he clicked the safety off of, and held it to the head of the bus driver. "I'm hijacking this bus!" The man yelled, to the fear and confusion of the passengers as screams of fight escaped from those closest to the man, causing him to turn his attention briefly to them to snap out an order. "Shut up! I'll kill anyone who makes a scene!" He turned his attention back to the horrified driver. "Driver, you know the phone number to Space Land, right?"

The driver uttered a shaky, "Y-yeah." Before the hijacker demanded him to call it. He grabbed the phone one handily and called the number. "I am the driver of bus 124." The hijacker held the gun closer to the driver and ordered him to tell the person on the other end what was happening. "We…we've been hijacked by a man with a gun."

"Give me the phone." The hijacker snatched the phone roughly from the driver before speaking into it himself. "He's telling the truth. Now, listen carefully. Before the bus arrives, tell a girl to bring yesterday's financial reports to the bus stop, two stops before Space Land. If you do anything or call the police, I will kill all the passengers on this bus." He hung up with a small chuckle.

/:/:/

The bus travelled in silence and Death watched on dispassionately until he felt Taro tapping him on his side. Turning to look he saw a written note; angled so that Raye could see it too, and saw that Taro 'planned' on attacking the hijacker in order to get the gun from him. Letting out an annoyed huff; and cutting Raye off before he could speak, Death turned to Taro.

"I know you're not this stupid." He snapped in irritation; unwilling to play the part of a terrified passenger. "It'd make more sense if two people made a move so that one can distract whilst the other attacks."

"That's dangerous! Don't do that, let me handle this." Raye cut in before Taro could respond. Taro continued to write on the paper, Raye again trying to explain that he could be trusted. "You don't have to write on the paper. The hijacker can't hear us over the sound of the bus." The note in Taro's hand was transferred to his pocket as he shifted his full attention to Raye, finally acknowledging the man he planned on killing.

"Excuse me, but I can tell you're not Japanese from your accent." Taro pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm Japanese American." Raye responded in a low tone, his eyes locked upon the hijacker.

"Can you prove to me that you're not the criminal's partner?" Taro asked in a falsely distrustful voice.

"Don't be ridiculous Taro," Death cut in. "Why would the partner go out of his way to prove he's in no way involved when the bus is currently under their control? Nobody here is willing to fight back; aside from one so called 'genius', and even if the hijacker is caught, he can easily rat out his partner."

Taro didn't miss a beat. "So are you?" He asked of Penber.

Death could see the thought's racing through the man's mind. That they couldn't possibly be Kira otherwise they would have killed the criminal via heart attack by now, but Raye didn't even consider this part of a trap, most likely, he wasn't even aware of the experiments that had been carried out. But Death had already decided to sabotage Taro's plan. He wasn't even sure at what point he'd made the decision, quite possibly when he saw the smug grin on Taro's face, or even when he saw just how attractive the man was up close; Death wasn't one to deny that he was quite shallow at times. _'This man will not die by your hand.'_ He vowed silently, even as Raye hesitantly handed over his F.B.I badge, his thumb covering the gap between his first name and last; and therefore hiding the 'e' at the end of 'Raye' and enough of the 'p' to make it look like a 'd'. Before Taro could position the I.D better to see the name fully, Death let out a violent sneeze that caused the I.D to fall back onto Raye, as he covered his mouth and nose. Irritation flashed across Taro's face, even as Raye pocketed his I.D again, but Taro covered it quickly before the man could see it.

"Sorry about that," Death muttered, sniffling a bit. "I think I may be coming down with something." He lied, in a thick voice.

"You should take some medicine and rest up before it gets worse." Taro suggested before turning back to Raye. "I believe you. But I don't know why the F.B.I is here. Do you have a gun?" He asked, to which Raye answered with a positive. "Then we'll leave this to you."

/:/:/

' _I can't use the gun until the last second. I wonder why the police think the killer is in Japan. More American criminals have died, actually. Even if we used the F.B.I to find the killer, it wouldn't be someone in the Japanese police. I shouldn't think too much right now, saving lives is much more important. That man was on the news a few days ago. He robbed a bank and fled after killing three people. He's a very dangerous man_.' Movement caught Raye's attention and he watched in shock as the paper Taro had been writing on, fell from his pocket to the floor, catching the attention of the hijacker.

"Hey! You! Don't move! What's on that little scrap?" The hijacker asked, causing Taro to freeze and Light to send the other teen a look of disbelief Raye could see even through the sunglasses. "Passing notes to each other, what are you guys doing?" The man trailed off as he read the paper.

'Crap that _scrap is. If he finds out that we'll attack him when his guard is down…_ ' Raye's thought's trailed off as he watched on, hand clasped around his gun hidden in his jacket.

"Tsk, a reminder for today's plans. How boring! Listen up. Don't make any sudden movements or else." The man's eyes widened in fear even as he paled. "What the hell is that?! That thing at the far back!" He yelled in a loud panic. Raye went to bring out his gun when the man pointed his gun at the back of the bus. "Don't move! I'm going to shoot you monster!" He yelled in a panic.

"Crap, he's hallucinating…" Raye muttered to himself. "Everybody get down!" He yelled, making a lunging movement towards the crazed man. The gun clicked, signalling that it was out of bullets, getting to his feet Raye went after them man who had fled to the front of the bus to wrap his arms around the driver.

"Stop the bus! Open the doors!" The man yelled in a panic. The bus screeched to a halt and the door opened. Within seconds the man threw himself from the bus onto the main road in a blind panic; not seeing the oncoming car until too late, and by then he was already dead.

/:/:/

Passengers screamed and cried all save for three. Raye stood looking upon the scene in silent shock. Taro mused darkly to himself about the almost successful plan to gain Raye's name. And Death watched on indifferently as he ferried the man's soul off to its destination.

…


	11. J,J,E Chapter 7

**ORIGINAL AN: FYI, I have no clue as to where any of these places below are…In the manga it say's four agents died in Tokyo, I changed that to three 'cos Death altered Penber's life expectancy. The F.B.I chief isn't aware that the Japanese only found 11 bodies and not 12 as the F.B.I couldn't contact anyone and assumed they all were killed. Also 'Ray Denber' is 'Raye Penber' (I just really wanted him to live)**

The bus remained at a permanent stop Death leaned against the stilled vehicle as he watched Raye and Taro get off the bus. The conversation held between the two of them audible to him from where he stood.

"Hey," Raye said, facing Taro as he came down the stairs.

"What?" Taro asked; halting on the last step so he remained above Raye.

"To tell the truth, the reason I'm in Japan is I'm on a secret mission. So please…" He trailed off.

"Understood, I won't tell anyone I met you. Not even my father." Taro swore, Raye gave a small nod and turned to walk away.

"Things might get hairy once the police come, so I'll be leaving." Raye explained as he turned his back to Taro.

Just as he was passing Death, he went to speak but Death cut him off. "Be more careful about who you show your name to. Trust nobody." He said in a low voice to ensure no others heard. Raye hesitated for a brief moment, eyes widening and flickered towards Taro and back. "I'd advise you to grab your fiancé; Naomi Misora, and lay low for a while." He turned away from Raye and walked back towards Taro; preventing Raye from questioning him.

/:/:/

' _Just as I calculated. I don't want the police to know that I had an encounter with an F.B.I agent. If dad found out, L would know too_.' Taro watched as Denber ran off after a brief conversation with Light; no doubt explaining that he was to be kept out of police scrutiny ' _He doesn't suspect me a bit. What happened here today will be filed away as just another incident_.'

He came to a stop by Light as he turned to him. "Jeez, we were just on our way to Space Land, but we ended up getting caught in a bus jacking." Light threw him an annoyed look and stalked off without a word. ' _What was that about_?' Taro followed his fellow student as they made their way away from the accident scene before the cops arrived. _'I guess he doesn't want to get involved either.'_ To be quite honest, Taro didn't know much about Light Yagami's home life. He had assumed, when his father had mentioned a chief Yagami, that Light was related to the chief. But he didn't stick around to give a statement and Taro couldn't help but wonder if what he had assumed was wrong.

#

"Finally going to write down the name of that agent you pinpointed today?" Ryuk asked long after they had settled in Taro's room.

"Nope, I'll write in his name, yeah, next week. It would be suspicious to kill him so soon and I should let him continue his investigation for a while. And in a week when I do write his name down, it'll be after I have him show me who all the F.B.I agents in Japan are. But now it's time for another prisoner to keep L Company.

/:/:/

' _L do you know_?' His thoughts were cut off when the computer signalled an incoming call.

"L."

"What is it Watari?" He asked, looking over his shoulder at the computer.

"There's been another victim with a note." Watari informed him, catching L's attention and drawing him to the computer.

"Send me the image." L requested as he came to a stop in front of the webcam. The message came through and L spent no time analysing it. Finding the hidden message within seconds. "Shinigami… 'L do you know, Shinigami…' Are you trying to tell me that Shinigami exist, Kira?" L muttered to himself in a low sceptical tone. "Watari, we might get another one writing a note like this. Tell the police not to take their eyes off the prisons."

"Understood."

' _Is Kira trying to give me some kind of clue? Or…_ ' L's thought's trailed off as he contemplated his new theory.

/:/:/

 **#JAPANESE POLICE ONE WEEK LATER#**

"What? The F.B.I?" Yagami exclaimed in shock as the man reported his findings.

"Three in Tokyo, two in Kanagawa and one in Chiba and Saitama. All died from heart attacks." The underling reported to the rooms growing shock.

"F.B.I agents having heart attacks in Japan?"

"Huh?!"

The officers were so caught up in their shock discovery that none noticed as Watari shut down his laptop; and connection to L, and walk out of the room to growing voices of shock and anger.

"And there's evidence that the agents were monitoring the Japanese police."

"What's the meaning of this?"

"Contact the F.B.I immediately!"

It wasn't until Watari left the room that his phone sounded, bringing it to his ear he was greeted by the voice of the head of the F.B.I demanding to be put into contact with L.

/:/:/

"L, I just got word of the deaths of our agents in Japan. I tried contacting all twelve of our agents in Japan, but I couldn't reach any of them. I think Kira killed the others."

"Chief calm down and listen to me carefully. Did any of the agents know the others' faces?" L asked, speaking into the provided microphone used to scramble his voice.

"Not until yesterday." The chief replied after a pause.

"Yesterday?" L questioned, checking he heard correctly.

"Yes. I received the request, 'I want to verify all the friendlies in Japan,' so I sent the file."

"That's it! Kira got in touch with that agent and somehow got the information from that file! Who did you send it to?" L questioned in excitement; thinking that he'd been given a clue.

"That was…all my agents in Japan." The chief answered.

"All of them," L muttered, visually deflating after the letdown.

"All of a sudden they asked, 'I want to know who the friendlies are in Japan'. I believe it was me who decided that they'd all have the file. I sent file to the first four myself, and told them to 'pass it along to the others.'"

"All of them had the file. If Kira can manipulate their actions before death, it's possible that he saw one of their copies, made that one send it to the others, and killed them." L's musings were cut off when the chief continued.

"L, I'm sorry, but, I'm calling off our Japanese investigation." This decision caught L unawares, even as the chief ploughed on with his explanation. "Those being killed in Japan were criminals, but we've lost innocent agents. This is a big loss. It was my decision to put them in Japan. Now my country will ask me to take responsibility for it. My face is publicly known, and I hold my life dear. The F.B.I is washing its hands of the matter." The chief broke off as a seconded murmured voice could be faintly heard. "Hmm, their headquarters are already calling. I'm going to tell them we acted on your behalf, L. Goodbye." The chief hung up, ending the call, leaving L in a state of growing anger.

/:/:/

"The F.B.I surveyed those related to this investigation at L's direction?! Is that true?!" Yagami demanded of the voice on the other end of the phone in growing anger and disbelief as the rest of his agents listened in on the call and others fell into conversations of dissent.

"L, I knew we couldn't trust him."

"Kira's killed F.B.I along with criminals? Meaning he'll kill anyone trying to find him."

"Anyone pursuing him will be killed, even if they're not a criminal. He really is a homicidal maniac, that Kira."

"Right! That's not something a human being would do!"

"Those guys who quit before were right!"

"I can't take this anymore!"

/:/:/

' _I guess I should have been watching the F.B.I as well as the criminals…_ ' L thought ruefully to himself.

 **# NEXT DAY#**

"We've got another victim who's left a message. I'm sending you the photo." Watari's voice sounded.

'' _L do you know, Shinigami…' The next part_?' The message appeared on screen and L's jaw snapped down in fury, as the last of the taunting message could be seen. '' _L do you know, Shinigami only eat apples?' Kira_!' He brought his clenched fist to his chest. "Kira, your actions are big this time. Chances are you met one of those twelve agents. And you've surely left clue!"

/:/:/

"With this, the F.B.I won't increase the amount of agents in Japan. At least not until after they've come up with a well-polished plan, and that won't be for some time. L should have almost no pawns left to move. Alright, now it's time to make a move on your own." Taro chuckled as he looked at the files from his father's hacked computer.

/:/:/

"So you're saying that I need to act as though Raye has died?" Naomi looked across to where her fiancé sat before looking back to the hooded, winged, figure in the shadows. "Any reason why? If you know who Kira is, why don't you tell someone? Why should I act as though such a tragedy has occurred, surely the police would have found only eleven bodies and not the twelve that should have been found. And the F.B.I chief would have assumed that Raye was dead when he couldn't get in contact with him, but eventually that'll be proven incorrect when he notices the wrong number."

"Honey, I don't remember who Kira is. The whole incident is a complete blur, all I know is, is that I'm alive because of him." Raye gestured to the silent figure before continuing. "And I'll bet Kira knows about you, it'll be safer if you act as though you've experienced a loss until you manage to get in contact with L." Raye looked to the silent figure. "I'd like to thank you, you saved my life."

Death simply shook his hooded head in denial. "I simply ensured that you're going to die when you're supposed to, as opposed to a forced death." He looked to Naomi. "Chances are that you'll run into Kira at some point during your attempt to contact L, don't give out your true name, no matter how much he persists." Death didn't wait for a response to his order, vanishing from the hotel room without a trace or sound. Luckily human's minds were easily influenced and Raye had only a fuzzy memory of the incident on the bus involving Taro and himself, Death didn't spare him just to have him get killed revealing Kira's identity. And on a more selfish level, Death wanted to meet L, and wanted L to bring down Kira. They were the only interesting things in Death's life, and he would be damned to allow other's to interfere.

' _I wonder what L's move is. Taro gained a major hit against him, the police won't be too happy with the discovery of F.B.I agents in their country. Hopefully Naomi uses what I told her to get in contact with L_.' He didn't doubt it, he also knew that she would encounter Taro at some point. ' _And I've got to pull off another faked death without Ryuk catching on. Unless she never gives out her real name like I told her to_.'

He spiralled lazily through cloud cover, moisture weighing down his clothes, before he allowed himself to plummet in a free-fall towards the rapidly approaching cityscape. Angling at just the right moment, he landed upon a building to check his phone which had begun to vibrate. Scanning the message; received from Sayu, he gave a sigh, typed out a reply and tucked his phone away. Taking to the sky again, he flew towards the Yagami household. "L do you know, Shinigami only eat apples? I hope Ryuk is eating him out of house and home." He muttered spitefully, for a message one could feel the smugness radiating from the taunting words. Frankly though, he was perplexed, he wasn't aware that Shinigami were even able to eat food, much less taste them enough to enjoy them. "It's probably got something to do with the fact that they were, in essence, once part of me." It wasn't something worth evaluating.

…


	12. J,J,E Chapter 8

' _Each of the twelve investigators had documents with their names and faces sent to them. If Kira can control the victim's last actions, then he must have known their names and faces. Kira contacted the first agent that received these documents, then stole the information. Knowing what's in this file, he sent it to every other agent and killed them all at once. The important thing isn't what order they died in, but the order in which they received the file_.' L stood with his back to the illuminated computer displaying the faces of the agents lost to Kira.

/:/:/

"I'm sorry about this Light, when I asked you over for help with my homework, I didn't think that you'd get dragged into a family meeting." Sayu complained as they waited for her parents to start.

"It's okay," Death said with a shrug, just as Soichiro settled himself down.

"Why are we having a family meeting? There's only three days before the new year." Sayu demanded, only to be hushed by her mother.

"I don't want to tell you this, but you'd find out sooner or later anyways." Soichiro began before looking at Death. "We consider you part of the family, which is why I thought it'd be best to inform you as well." He explained, before turning his attention back to the rest of those gathered. "I am currently the head of the Kira case."

Death felt his heart drop at that statement, eyes flashing red long enough to scan Soichiro's lifespan; too impatient to do it his usual way, what he saw wasn't comforting. Whilst Soichiro's numbers hadn't declined past where they rested when Death first met him, they had taken on the habit of jumping from number to number; something that happened when a Death Note was present in someone's life.

"Really? That's really cool dad!" Death dimly heard Sayu exclaim in a proud voice.

"Listen," Soichiro stressed before continuing. "Twelve F.B.I investigators who were in Japan died yesterday."

"Killed by Kira, right?" Death muttered under his breath.

"Huh?" Sayu said in surprise, looking at her father and showing no sign of hearing Death's muttered words.

"It seems that anyone who chases Kira will lose their lives. It's because of this that the investigators under me are resigning one by one. The cruelty and danger involved in this investigation is unprecedented. I couldn't think of any reason to make them stay." Soichiro explained to the growing horror of his family.

"Dad, don't do it then. I don't want you to die." Sayu begged, reaching across the table.

"That's right, your life is more important than your pride. You should resign too." Sachiko begged of her husband. Death simply lowered his head as he struggled to choose what to say, how was he supposed to act when his father figure informs him that he plans on chasing a killer who could kill with a name and face?

"No, I'll never give up. I will not back away from crime." Soichiro said with conviction as he stapled his fingers together in front of him.

"Dad…"

"Dear…"

Swallowing down his concern, and silently admitting to himself that Soichiro was a grown man with principals, Death got to his feet and plastered a supporting; fake, smile on his face. "Admirable Mr Yagami. I support you." He pushed away from the table; silently keeping track of the jumbled numbers. "If anything happens to you, I will personally put an end to Kira." He vowed; fully committed to what he vowed. Soichiro gave him a look only understood by the both of them and Death left the house without another word, his smile crumbling into dust as determination set in.

/:/:/

"Nice acting Taro. Your plot to kill the investigators from the F.B.I was also impressive." Ryuk congratulated as Taro headed off to his bedroom, having just finished a similar conversation between his families. Only, unlike Soichiro; who was intent on fighting on the front lines, Taro's father had decided to work from the sidelines, out of danger.

/:/:/

 **#ONE DAY PRIOR: SHINJYAKUEKI UNDERGROUND CITY#**

"Very busy here. Is this where you're going to act?" Ryuk asked of Taro who was wearing an outfit meant to disguise him. Neither noticed Death standing by in his Shinigami form; wings pulled in tight and eyes narrowed on the pair, as he listened in to what they were saying.

"Let me show you the results of the experiments I've done in the past six days." Taro was saying.

"Experiments?" Ryuk questioned; again not having paid attention to what the holder of his Death Note had planned.

"Yep, I experimented with the Death Note and this area's criminals and found several new ways to kill. First I wrote the date, time and cause of death. The results are the same even if I write the name last." Taro boasted.

Death silently shook his head at the ignorance of the Shinigami. Those were all things that Ryuk should have known. He was spared any further thought on the subject when they all spotted Raye entering the area. Death immediately caught onto the fact that Raye was already under the influence of the death note. Even though Taro may; hopefully, have Raye's name wrong, he was under the influence until the time he was supposed to die.

Taro tugged down his hoodie; hiding his beanie covered head, whilst glancing down at his watch and tailing Raye. "Mr Ray Denber, if you turn around I will kill you." Taro said from behind Raye's back, startling the man. Raye made no mention of his name being wrong; possibly not hearing the incorrect pronunciation. "I am Kira. If you turn around or put your hands in your pockets, I will kill you on the spot." Death watched as thoughts raced through Raye's mind, his expression hinting at trying to remember something once known. "Let me first prove to you that I am Kira. You see that café over there? I'm going to kill the man wearing glasses for you." Taro said uncaringly.

"Don't joke with me. This is rash." Raye tried, even as the man collapsed to the ground dead to the surprise of those around.

"I don't mind if I have to sacrifice some people so I can prove to you that I am Kira. But, that man has been tried for several rapes, but he was never found guilty due to lack of evidence. I'm only purifying this world." Death couldn't help but scoff at that remark, having just judged the soul of the man just killed Death knew he was innocent of the crimes, having been framed by spiteful customers. "I believe that L has already told you that I can't kill someone without knowing their name or face. Still, I can kill anyone I see here. Want to test some more?" Taro bluffed.

"No, no more. I believe that you are Kira." Raye said; still without turning around to face his captor.

"But to you, there must be someone more precious than anyone here. They should make a perfect hostage."

"Did you mean her?!" Raye asked in concern; falling for Taro's bluff and not seeing the grin on his face.

"Bingo! I've already done a background check on you. So, if you don't do as I say I will kill her and your family. This, of course, includes you, Ray Denber."

"Okay. What is it you want?" Raye asked; so obviously in shock that he still didn't notice the wrong last name.

"You must be carrying a laptop in that bag, right? Are there any files that show all the F.B.I agents in Japan on it?" Taro asked.

"I use it often for work, but I don't have any such file." Raye answered.

"Hold onto this envelope, then." Taro handed over the envelope which Raye took without once looking down. "Take out the transmitter and put on the earphones." Raye complied with Taro's instructions.

 _'A transmitter? It looks like a toy, but it's still possible for them to communicate without others listening in even though they're underground as long as their within range of one another. Taro's a lot smarter than I've been giving him credit for_.' Death couldn't help but scowl at that as he followed the trio to the platform and waited for the train. ' _Now I have no choice but to basically sit on Raye's lap just to here what's being said_.' That didn't sound as bad as he made it seem though. _'I should stick to lip-reading, Raye has a fiancée_.' Shaking his head in disappointment Death floated beside Taro and Ryuk, getting close enough so that he could read Taro's lips without hindrance.

"Ride on the Yamanotesen line. Either the inner or outer lane. I'm watching close by. When you get on the train do not look around. Don't forget, you are at my mercy." The train pulled up and people pilled out and shuffled in, Death followed Taro and Ryuk into the neighbouring carriage to Raye. "Sit near a window. If there are no available seats, wait until one opens up." Raye followed Taro's orders, sitting in an available window seat. "First, answer my question. If you lie, your fiancée's life will be in danger. How many agents are there, and in how many groups? Whisper it to the transmitter."

Death quickly lost interest in the proceedings, more focussed on saving Raye then those who were also going to die. Again, he was a very selfish creature. That and he didn't know what would happen to him should he defy the Death Note. The train rattled on and Taro continued giving orders that were followed by Raye, eventually ordering Raye to take out the pen and envelopes from the folder. The envelopes were sealed and Death could sense that Death Note paper had been used as the paper behind the spaced cuts on the sheets. Raye had taken out his laptop and had begun writing down names from the screen, Death feeling as every life took a nosedive towards death. Eventually Raye finished doing what Taro ordered, leaving the envelope on the rack above him, and riding out the remainder of the trip.

The train came to a stop and Raye left the vehicle, Death flying after him the moment his numbers began to drop. Within seconds Death had thrust his hand through the aura around Raye's chest to simulate a heart attack, causing the man to drop his things as he fell to the ground in obvious distress and pain; catching the attention of other commuters. Death kept his hand in Raye's aura, moving with him as he turned towards the closing doors. Even as he exclaimed out in shock at seeing Taro grinning triumphantly from between the doors with the folder in hand.

"Farewell Ray Denber." The doors closed upon them and the train passed by.

Once Death was certain that the train was out of sight, he retracted his hand and swiftly took on his human form; wearing a hood to keep his face from being seen. People had gathered around Raye at that point, phones out in concern.

"Its fine, everything's fine. My friend just had a slight dizzy spell." It wasn't the best lie he'd come up with, but influencing the minds of those around him, he managed to send everyone away before he grabbed Raye's things and hurled the still dazed man to his feet. "We have a lot to discuss." Death muttered as he dragged Raye from the scene.

#

' _Now, all of the F.B.I agents will die from a heart attack after receiving the files. The time at which they die and get the documents are all random_.' Taro smirked as he pulled the written on Death Note pages from the cut up pages.

/:/:/

"Thank you director. According to the Japanese police and your computer's data, I've gotten the information I needed." L spoke into the microphone, looking at the list of names sent to him. ' _Kira, you controlled everything. But if I'm right, the first person is the one you contacted_. '

…


	13. J,J,E Chapter 9

' _Naomi just doesn't know when to quit. One would think that after the warning I gave her and the fact that I saved Raye's life, would be enough for her to back off. But no, she runs off first chance she gets in order to investigate on her own_.' Death huffed in annoyance, his Shinigami form invisible to the woman in question and the bus driver she was speaking to.

"Yeah, that's him." The bus driver confirmed, looking at a photo Naomi had produced of her and Raye. "He boarded alone and yelled 'get down'. I'm not positive, but it's probably him. The other passengers…I don't really remember."

' _That is because I don't want you to remember_.' Death thought, drifting slightly up into the air in boredom. ' _Why did Raye have to insist on contacting his boss at the F.B.I? It's bad enough that they both are ignoring me, but to leave to building to a 'safer area' is just plain reckless. What would he do should he come across Taro_?'

"Do you think you could remember if we showed you their pictures?" Naomi asked the driver who was still focussed on the photo he had already been handed.

"Hmm. I wouldn't know even if I saw them. To be honest, all I did was shake in fear. Sorry, that's all I can tell you." He handed back the photo with regret in his voice.

"That's fine. You've been a big help. If something else comes up I might visit you again. Until then." Naomi left; unaware that Death was following just above her.

/:/:/

"Taro, help me with the winter cleaning." Taro's mother requested over the loud noise of the vacuum.

"Why? This place is always spotless anyways." Taro asked; head buried in the mornings newspaper.

"Really?" His mother asked with a pleased grin on her face.

"What are these TV stations thinking? They've got 'Super Emergency Broadcast: Tracing the truth behind the Kira case!' And 'Analysis though dawn: L and Kira' right now instead of Kouhaku. How boring." Taro muttered, his mother catching what he said during a lull in vacuuming.

"You say it's boring, but I know you'll end up watching it, dear." She said knowingly as her son folded up the paper.

"Mum, tape 'Super Emergency Broadcast' for me." Taro requested of her just as she turned the vacuum back on; nodding her head to show she heard.

"How about letting me watch one of those dramas?" Ryuk asked; speaking for the first time that morning, even as Taro ignored him and continued on to his room.

/:/:/

"We may be killed by Kira." It was stated in a serious tone of voice that conveyed the danger of the situation. "The fact that members of the F.B.I were killed means that he will murder anyone who opposes him, in addition to criminals. Think of yourself, think of your family and think of your friends. Those wish to resign may do so now. No one who leaves will receive a demotion. I've already left you're reassignments up to the vice-director. But to whomever is willing to sacrifice everything I've mentioned to fight Kira, be here at five o'clock when I return from my meeting." He was met with silence and pale faces, each person in the room obviously debating within themselves for whatever path they'll take.

#

Yagami walked down the silent hallway, shoes echoing down the halls as anticipation fuelled his movements. He approached the closed doors and checked his watch; it read five o'clock on the dot, grasping the handle he pushed the door open to be faced with a significantly smaller team.

"Welcome back chief." Matsuda greeted from where he stood, the others remained silent as they faced him with determination in their eyes.

"Only five men. No, five men who are willing to put their lives on the line to confront evil. Including me that makes six. But how can we continue the investigation while we're this understaffed?" Yagami mused aloud to himself as he made his way to his desk.

"Director, if you include Watari and L that makes eight." Matsuda exclaimed, moving aside to reveal Watari sitting with a running laptop in front of him.

"It is only you, with your strong conviction, that I trust." L's mechanical voice stated to the small number of officers.

"Hold on a second. L says that he trusts us. But we don't trust him." Aizawa stated; looking over his shoulder at the computer.

"L, we're determined to catch Kira even if it costs us our lives. We should all understand what it means to put that on the line." Ide began, also looking at the computer.

"But you just order us around without showing your face." Aizawa cut it.

"We will pursue Kira, but not with your assistance." Ukita added. "And we're not the only ones. Many people doubt you or even oppose you."

"Definitely! Eleven members of the F.B.I are dead because of you. You can't argue the circumstances."

"There are some criminal psychologists who are saying that 'L is Kira'. They claim that L has multiple personalities. The one who ordered the F.B.I to move, was L. And the F.B.I agents who came to Japan are all dead. L would have known who they were." Yagami said, speaking for the first time since L had spoken up.

"And that's not all! He may have staged everything up till now by himself. The fact that he's been able to solve any case without revealing himself adds weight to that theory." The three outspoken members said in unison.

"L. If you're willing to join forces with us and help us catch Kira, come to headquarters and work with us in person." Yagami bargained.

"Yeah, if you showed your face and worked alongside us, it'd be easier to work with and trust you." Ide said; once again speaking his distrust of the mysterious detective.

"Earlier I said 'I only trust you people'." The mechanical voice stated. "Watari."

"Yes," Watari spun the laptop around so that the detectives could see the gothic styled 'L' on a white background. The background was quickly replaced by a text box and the words 'what happens from now on must be kept between the eight of us.'

"What's that?" The gathered detectives thought aloud. "What happens from now on…?"

The text was erased to be replaced by new words. 'Very soon I'm thinking of meeting you six, whom I trust. None of you will mention a word of our meeting or the things mentioned in it. That includes, of course, your family, friends, and the rest of the police. Leave and consider whether or not you can promise me the above and put your faith in me. I'll set up the meeting when those who have decided they can trust and work with me return to this room.'

#

"I'd rather forget partnering with L and just continue the investigation independently. Given the way he works, we may end up meeting a double instead of the true L." Ide said to the small group of officers facing him.

"A double, eh? It's possible." Aizawa agreed; hand resting on his chin in thought.

"I…I believe in L. And I believe we need his help for this case." Matsuda enthused.

"And be used and killed like the F.B.I? If he's closed so many cases on his own up until now, then why would he reveal himself to five people just to get out cooperation?" Ide snapped; distrust still on his features.

"L has said since the start that he needs our assistance for this case." Yagami said, breaking his silence and turning to regard his gathered officers. "Couldn't you think of it this way? L was waiting for it to become like this."

"Like this?" Matsuda asked, voicing everyone's confusion.

"There have always been people among the investigators who don't trust L. One resignation after another and then the leak. He couldn't trust us under those conditions." Yagami said, explaining his thoughts.

"He was just waiting for people he could trust, and people who trusted him and would stand up to evil without fear of death." Matsuda explained.

"Yes." That one word was met with silence.

"In any case, if we're going to work with L then I'm gone." Ide said, turning away from the small group and heading towards the doors. "But don't worry. I'm not going to follow you guys or try to figure out L's true identity."

"I'll try to trust L and work with him." Ukita said after Ide had left.

"Me too." Aizawa swore.

#

The now five remaining members stood in front of closed doors. Watari with his laptop sat facing them. A text box appeared on screen. 'Right now I'm in a room at the Teito hotel. I'll be moving from hotel to hotel every few days. From now on, the police building is only the headquarters in name. Instead the true headquarters will be my hotel room. Now I'll have to take precautions so Kira doesn't know my face, so we won't all be together. However, it is a compromise I will make now that I have your trust and cooperation. If you're willing to trust and work with me, split into two groups. Get my room number from Watari and come here before midnight. I'll be waiting.'

/:/:/

L stood before a window that panned across the cityscape, showing the lights of the cities night-life. ' _Kira, for now we'll just say that we're getting closer to each other. Only now I have a clue about you given to me by the noble lives of the twelve F.B.I agents you sacrificed_.' He didn't even think that the Japanese were correct in stating that only eleven bodies had been found, the F.B.I director had said that all twelve were unreachable, and bodies could go for years without being discovered. ' _Fine. For the first time I will reveal myself as L. If you hear about this, you'll get ever closer. Nothing could be better. Even if you saw my face you wouldn't be able to kill me if you didn't know my name. And if I found you, I wouldn't be able to convict you of a murder if I didn't catch you in the act or find solid physical evidence. Kira, you shouldn't have much room to breathe after killing those twelve agents. What are you thinking now_?' L wondered as he continued to stare across the city.

/:/:/

The sound of loud cheering and yelling was issued from the TV as two people wrestled within a ring. "Those guys are really going at it. Humans are so interesting!" Ryuk said aloud as he watched the match on the edge of Taro's bed.

Taro said nothing in reply, far too deep in thought for the Shinigami to distract him. _'Headquarters staff has dwindled dramatically, I won't be able to make it known that I use intelligence only available to them for much longer. I've already considered this in my plan to drive L into a corner, but… There were only twelve F.B.I in Japan at the time. Was I followed early on because my father was the vice-director to the investigation? If L assumed that I would kill those agents and purposely sent a smaller group… No. Even then there shouldn't be any evidence. And even if he suspected me of being Kira, he can't arrest me as long as he doesn't have the Death Note. Ugh, no! I shouldn't be thinking like that! I'm not even supposed to be a suspect! And if I were then Light should be in the same position as I am. These past few days I've been making many moves. I've got to think. Have I made any mistakes? And what should I do next?_ ' The incident on the bus concerning his follower and Light came to mind. ' _This is where the real fight begins_.'

"Ha? Oh, well, there goes the match." Ryuk said in obvious disappointment.

At that very moment the split groups of detectives had made it to L's hotel and stood outside the closed door.

/:/:/

Death watched from the shadows as Naomi and Raye conversed about Naomi's plans and theories about the case. Raye hadn't been able to get in contact with his director; discovering that he had been forced to resign after the deaths caused by Kira. Both had ended up agreeing not to speak to anyone aside from L about what they knew. Something Death had pointed out to begin with. At that moment Naomi was arguing with Raye about her plan to go the taskforce headquarters and demand to speak to L. It was growing tiresome. Heaving a sigh, Death left the shadows and dropped out of the building in a spiral downwards. His eyes alighting upon Soichiro and one, Touta Matsuda, entering the building. Knowing that he had nothing else planned, he dropped down behind them and followed them into the building. Right up to a floor where other detectives stood outside a closed door. The tension and anticipation thick in the air, which only grew thicker when the door was knocked upon.

…


	14. J,J,E Chapter 10

"I am L." He stood slightly slouched in jeans and a white sweater. Black hair framed his pale face and grey eyes looked out behind untamed locks, eyes that were lined black from many sleepless nights. He looked out-of-place in the expensive hotel room; only floors above from where Naomi and Raye were residing, and perfect. Death couldn't help but run he's eyes over the legendary detective in admiration; and another feeling he was unwilling to examine at the point.

"I am Yagami, the chief of police." Soichiro said; revealing his badge and snapping Death out of his ever increasing dirty thoughts, and encouraging the others to introduce themselves.

"I'm Matsuda."

"Aizawa."

"Ukita."

"Mogi."

L's face fell into neutral lines as he lifted his hand into manipulated his fingers to form the universal sign of a gun. "BANG!" He said; finger pointed directly at Soichiro, and startling those gathered.

"Huh?"

"That's not funny!"

Was echoed by the officers, even as L lowered his hand. "If I was Kira, you'd be dead already Mr. Yagami." L stated in a monotone; only shocking the officers more, Death could only shake his head in disbelief as he stood by L and looked at the officers with rising concern in regards to their ignorance. "As you may know, Kira must have the name and face of his victims to kill them. Logically speaking, it is impossible to kill someone only by knowing their name and face, but that's just what Kira's been doing. We can only conclude that Kira uses a supernatural killing method. We are the only ones left pursuing Kira. So please do not give out your names so recklessly. You must be more cautious."

' _Wonderfully done L, you're correct and you haven't even seen the Death Note_.' Death couldn't help but smile in amazement at the humans' deductive skills. ' _Now I wonder how long it'll take before he narrows down the suspects to Taro, or if he already has_.'

"He needs to know names? Is that true? I've heard that he only needs to know the face." Matsuda asked of his chief in a low questioning tone.

"Criminals whose names were either wrong or hidden survived some mass killings, so the headquarters came to that conclusion." Soichiro answered.

"But judging only based on that…isn't it too…" Matsuda trailed off, unwilling to finish what he started.

Death could already tell that the young officer was going to find things difficult to not only work but keep up with the more experienced detectives. ' _And yet he was brave enough to stay_.' Death had to admire such conviction.

"Let's get right down to business. Come. Turn off your cell phones, laptop computers, and put them on this table." L had migrated away from the group during the conversation and Death's musings. Death pulled out his phone and switched it to 'silent' even as the officers gathered around the pointed out table.

"Does L suspect that we will broadcast the conversation with cell phones?" Aizawa asked in disbelief.

"Just do it," Soichiro and Death said at the same time; no one noticing the echoed order.

"It's not like this is the first time he hasn't trusted us. I wonder if he ever will." Matsuda mused as he put his phone down to join those of his companions.

"You're wrong. I merely don't want our conversation to be interrupted by incoming calls." L said from his perched position on an armchair; more than able to hear the conversation about him. "Do not write down anything you hear. Just commit it to memory. Also, don't call me L. Call me Ryuuzaki, safety first." The officers stood in silence as they listened to L's instructions. "Ok. Sit." The team made their way to the provided chairs and sat. Death; upon seeing that the chairs were all occupied, simply allowed for gravity to cease its hold on him, and floated up above the ground in the lotus position.

"I just had an idea. If Kira needs the names and faces of his victim to be able to kill them, all we have to do is stop all the news channels from broadcasting information about criminals." Matsuda said eagerly.

"If you do that, Kira will kill innocent people instead." L stated, eyes serious.

"Innocent people?"

"Why would he do that?"

"Because Kira is an immature sore loser." L brought a teacup to his lips and sipped at the contents before continuing. "Yes…since I am also a sore loser…" He put the teacup down and picked a spoon to mix the contents. "I know exactly how he thinks."

"L, I mean Ryuuzaki, what do you mean?" Soichiro asked.

"When I publically challenged Kira on national television, Kira killed the fake L without a second thought, breaking his pattern of only killing terrible criminals. Furthermore, when I announced my hypothesis that Kira is in Kanto, the killing became concentrated in Japan. During the time the F.B.I agents were killed, the deaths were concentrated in the same area as well. Not only is Kira not afraid of our attempts, he counterattacks accordingly. He is very stubborn about not losing. What do you think he'd do if you stopped all broadcasting of criminal information?" L asked hypothetically, continuing before someone attempted to answer. "'If you don't show me the criminals, I'll start killing suspects of minor crimes, or even innocent people. The world is my hostage! Their deaths won't be on my hands, you're the one who hid the criminals from me'. That is what Kira will think. So what if we do this, announce something like 'the United States government is furious over the murder of F.B.I agents. The United Nations has sent 1500 investigators to assist in the capture of Kira'. With that he will consider anyone he sees on the street a potential enemy. This will cause plenty of mental stress and discomfort." He finished to awed silence, even Death remained quiet, his impression of L shooting up.

"The seven-man team suddenly becomes 1500 people, yet, unlike the agents, most of those investigators don't exist." Aizawa stated with a grin.

"Ryuuzaki, I'll bring this up to my superiors immediately." Soichiro said with conviction.

"I wonder what Kira will do to counter this?" Matsuda asked; echoing Death's thoughts.

"Even if he wants to retaliate…" Ukita trailed off in amazement.

' _If I were in Taro's shoes, I'd try to get onto the taskforce and act as though I'm working beside them even as I gathered everything I need to bring them down from the inside_.' Death thought as he resisted the temptation to fix L's hair into something tamer.

"Let me share a few personal insights on the case. Firstly, Kira acts alone. We can see this clearly from earlier reports." L stated, bringing his thumb to his lips in order to bite upon it.

"Why do you think that? What are you basing this off of?" Aizawa cut in; slowing irritating Death every time he opened his mouth. As far as Death was concerned, he was there simply to listen to L speak, everything else was seen as annoying.

"Hold on Aizawa. Let Ryuuzaki finish first, save the questions for later." Soichiro instructed of his subordinate.

' _Yes, keep quiet and let the far more intelligent man speak. Poor L, getting stuck with such endless, pointless questions and continuously being forced to simplify your words will get tiring after a while_.' Death kept his thoughts from drifting off onto a tangent about what he could do to help L relax; disregarding that fact that he was completely inexperienced in that subject matter. If he was in his reaper form; or even his true form, he'd see just how human his thought patterns and actions were becoming.

"Ah…okay." Aizawa said, letting go of his questions for the moment.

"Kira needs to know the face and name of his victim, and, he can control the time of death and the actions of the victim to some extent." L picked up a marker and with a small 'pop' took the cap off it. "Remember everything I have said so far and continue listening." L began to draw upon a cleared space on the table. "December 14th, 12 F.B.I agents entered Japan. December 19th, Kira is clearly using the criminals in the prison to test out his control over the victims' actions before their deaths." He'd scribbled down the numbers and the key words beneath them. "In other words, Kira noticed the F.B.I agents some time in these five days." He drew a link between the dates. "In order to eliminate the agents whose identities were unknown to him, Kira needed to test how well he is able to control the victims' actions. December 27th, using the results of the experiments, Kira successfully gathered the names and pictures of the agents. Then he sent the files to all the agents before killing them." He wrote beneath the 12/27 F.B.I point and put a cross through the 12 he had written. "This is so that we won't find out which agent Kira acquired the information from. This also proves that Kira also had contact with at least one of the agents. The bodies of the twelve agents were found throughout the city."

"Eleven," Death muttered from his position; wondering why L hadn't picked up on that, even the officers looked like they were about to point out the mistake, but L continued on with his explanation.

"Between the 19th and the 27th, there were twenty-three other killings. Most of the victims were suspected of a crime, but some had criminal records." He wrote 23 circled it and drew a circle between the other links connecting all three groups. "These are starkly different from Kira's regular victims. Kira killed even those he wouldn't otherwise kill to eliminate the threat of the F.B.I agents. He killed twenty-three people, but most of them served as cover-ups. Only a few of them had any purpose. Kira waited eight days, to let the agents investigate more suspects so he wouldn't stand out. In any case, Kira is among the people investigated during this time." L picked up a stack of neatly stacked paper. "Kira couldn't have known the name and faces of the agents before he could distribute the documents. I know the order in which the twelve agents got the documents…" L trailed off as the police team broke into excited chatter.

"Amazing! With these we can start immediately."

"First we find the common points between those twenty-three victims and the twelve agents."

"We can look for clues in two teams, one for the F.B.I agents and one for the twenty-three deaths."

' _And they've already forgotten that there was only eleven bodies and not twelve_.' Death rolled his eyes as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Getting pulled into the conversation on screen, Death lost track of what was happening in the room until he looked up and was greeted with the adorable sight of L smiling and proclaiming that Justice would prevail. Death left just as the conversation started up again; his destination once again to Naomi and Raye's room.

/:/:/

At Taro's house Ryuk stood by the desk, shocked that Taro wasn't writing in the Death Note for that night. Instead, a diagram similar to what L had drawn on the table, was copied down upon paper.

"You're not writing in the Death Note today? Are you doing practice problems?" Ryuk asked; looking down at the numbers.

"I'm not in the mood for studying. If I made any mistakes, even if I made one mistake, I will be dead. Just one is enough."

/:/:/

' _Raye clearly said he was going to Shinjuku. On that day around the station four relatively innocent people died of heart failure. Then there was the hijacking incident on the bus. This is no coincidence. Kira can kill in ways other than heart failure. That is an absolute fact. I just don't understand how Raye forgot who was there with him at those times_.' Naomi approached the police station with determined strides.

….


	15. J,J,E Chapter 11

' _This is not what I had planned for the day_.' Death grit his teeth together in annoyance, irritation flashing in his crimson eyes as he followed above a couple of humans and a Shinigami. He'd gone to the police station as a favour to Sachiko, with a change of clothing for Soichiro, when he over-heard Naomi demanding the receptionists to get her in contact with a member of the Kira taskforce. To make the situation worse, Taro had just come back from visiting his father; no doubt for the same reason why Death was there, and had zeroed onto her like a heat seeking missile. Neither of them had spotted him; and he had long since realised that the Shinigami weren't able to see him unless he wanted to be seen, so it was of no surprise that he wasn't invited to join the conversation they'd started. ' _And not only did he manage to convince her to leave the safety of the station, he's got her talking about the case. At least she gave a false name and said that Raye was dead_.'

"What is it?" Naomi asked, realising her companion was silent and drawing Death back into the conversation.

"Oh nothing, I'm thinking about what you said earlier. I think we should investigate what you said as soon as possible to solve this case." Taro said, coming to a temporary halt.

"Really?" Naomi came to a stop as she turned to face Taro.

"Yes. Have you told anyone else what you've told me?" Taro asked; his scheming expression hidden behind an innocent face.

"No, you're the first." Naomi said; somewhat untruthfully.

' _And the only one you shouldn't be saying anything to_.' Death silently dropped down beside the pair and crossed his arms to prevent himself from shaking the woman. ' _Why are you all so eager to line up for your demise?! You're going to be a mother Naomi, and you haven't even spared a thought about it since the Kira case_.' Though Death suspected she wasn't even aware of the new life she was carrying within her. ' _Early days I suppose_.' He let out a low breath and tore his eyes away from the tiny lifespan; unseen by even the Shinigami in front of them.

"Hey, you're doing this in public?" Ryuk's voice cut through and Death glanced around the see Taro holding a page of the Death Note.

"Can you tell me when the hijacking occurred?" Taro asked; pen already scribbling away.

"December 20th. A bus from Asakao Okazen heading to Space Land at 11:02am." Naomi said; unaware as to what the paper truly said.

' _Suicide? Really Taro? She's far too strong for that kind of action, you don't even know the woman_!' Death didn't do anything to prevent what was being written though, the name that had been given was fake; and if Naomi had any common sense she wouldn't give out her real name regardless.

"I got it, if you don't mind I'll pass this on to the investigation team." Taro said; clasping the paper in his hand by his side.

"The investigation team won't be gone all day, I want to tell them myself. After hearing what you have to say, I feel it's even more necessary to talk to them." Naomi denied; showing she didn't fully trust Taro. "I see."

"Thank you for your concern." Naomi said as they started walking again. She didn't notice how Taro glanced down at his watch with a smirk on his face as he watched her every move and counted down silently.

Forty seconds came and went; as did Taro's penned down time of 1:15pm, and Death couldn't help but laugh at the look of perplex that came across his face as the minutes passed. His laughter mixed with that of Ryuk's as Taro struggled to work out the problem; his eyes widening in understanding when he caught on.

"We should get back, maybe somebodies waiting." Naomi said, coming to a stop and turning to retrace their steps; Taro following closely behind as his eyes showed the rising stress within him.

They walked in silence; Taro's face showing small signs of distress only Death could see, as Taro's eyes remained fixed up Naomi's back. ' _Not so godlike now are we Taro? A true god doesn't need a name or face_.' Death mocked from within his thoughts.

"Taro, we can switch eyes at any time. All it takes is a few seconds." Ryuk said in a tempting tone of voice.

"Don't bother me, shut the hell up you god of death!" Taro snapped under his voice.

"Um, do you still need to go to the police station? I'll be fine on my own." Naomi said, having stopped and faced Taro.

/:/:/

"Sorry for hammering you with questions. Kira isn't here." L said from his perched position on the chair; the police he had kept to question all let out sighs of relief.

"How do you know if one of us isn't Kira Ryuuzaki?" Yagami asked.

"I've got a plan, it's a test that none of you are aware of." The officers were prevented on commenting when a mechanical beeping sounded and L pulled out a cell phone. "Oh, sorry." With a 'beep' he answered the phone. "Gotcha, we're pretty much finished up here. Use your own key to come in. Watari is coming." L announced to the officers disbelief.

It wasn't even five minutes later when an older gentleman dressed in a black suit with a hat, briefcase, carry-on bag and umbrella tucked under his arm, came into the room and introduced himself. "Good work everyone. You must be thinking 'this old geezer is Watari?' Ryuuzaki has told you everything, correct?" He sat down his items and looked to the officers. "Ryuuzaki must really trust you all if he let you see my face."

"Yes…" Matsuda said in a low, awed voice.

"Hahaha…" Aizawa seemed lost for words.

"Ryuuzaki, I bought the things you ordered." Watari said, looking down at the young detective with the briefcase in hand.

"Hand them out," L ordered, looking up at Watari from the corner of his eyes.

"This is everyone's new badge." The case was opened and the police badges that were shown within the case were met with varied responses.

"Your name and position must be anonymous. Kira must know the name and face of the victim in order to kill them. So we must use these badges." L explained, picking up a teacup and taking a sip.

"But for a cop to use a fake badge…" Ukita trailed off as he looked at his fellow officers.

"We'll die if Kira knows who we are. We should use this." Yagami said; looking down at his own badge.

"I agree." Matsuda said, covering Mogi's hum of agreement.

/:/:/

"Thank you very much, with your encouragement, I feel more confident about my conclusions." Naomi said; unaware that Taro was scheming to work out her real name.

"No problem," Taro responded; a practised grin in place, even as they came within five minutes of the station.

' _What will you do Taro_?' Death thought as he followed behind them.

/:/:/

"So when you absolutely must say who you are, use this fake badge." L instructed of the officers. "But not in the police station, or we might get in trouble." Watari remained standing in silence behind L, as he gave the warning to the officers.

"Roger!" Was the unanimous agreement from those gathered.

"Also," Watari's voice cut in from his new location at a table with yet another briefcase on it. "You must all wear this belt as well." He opened the briefcase and showed the coiled belts.

"Belt?"

"There's a transmitter hidden in the buckle. This way Ryuuzaki will always know your location. Also, if you press the buckle twice, my cell phone will ring." Watari said whilst demonstrating the added features. "After we get a call, we'll contact you via an untraceable number. You will be working at the station during office hours, and then check in when you reach your hotel rooms. You can also use this to contact us in the case of an emergency."

"Oh, it wouldn't look right if the main building is empty. Have somebody stay there so at least it looks occupied." L cut in once everyone had swapped out their belts.

"Understood." Yagami said. "Aizawa, please go to headquarters."

"Alright. Shouldn't take more than five minutes to get back there." Aizawa replied as he made for the door.

/:/:/

' _If I didn't know any better I would say that Taro is a pillar of justice, unfortunately I do know better and the amount of lies that come out of his mouth are more than I've told in quite some time_.' Death picked at one of his nails, uninterested in Taro's scheme to convince Naomi to hand over her real name. At that moment he was trying to convince her that the taskforce would be unreachable at headquarters and in general.

"How do you know this?" Naomi asked; her voice firm and suspicious, bringing Death's attention away from his nails and back to the conversation.

Taro's eyes widened in surprise before he schooled his features. "That is because…I guess I'll just have to tell you. It's because I am a member of that investigation team."

Death tuned out again, pulling out his phone and checking for any missed calls. He had one from Sayu asking for his help on her school work, aside from that his phone remained barren. ' _I need friends_.' He quickly shook his head; eyes narrowing in thought. ' _Where did that come from_?' He'd never expressed such concerns before, he was happy being a loner who got along with all the cliques without actually belonging to any of them. They had reached the front of the station, Taro was still spinning his web of lies and eventually the words 'can I see some I.D?' caught Deaths attention. ' _Damnit Naomi, I expressly told you not to give your name out to anyone who asked_!' Death pulled out his phone and; flying up into the air so he couldn't be heard, dialled her number. The phone rang and the ringtone from below let him know Naomi had her phone on her.

"Oh, one moment." Naomi said, pulling out her phone and connecting the call. "Hello?"

"Naomi, what did I say about giving out your name to strangers? I do believe I told Raye the same thing. Now tell him that it's a call from your doctor about you pregnancy test and leave." Death ordered; watching as Naomi tensed up in surprise, be it from the familiar voice or the mention of her being pregnant he wasn't sure.

"I understand, I'll be right there." Naomi ended the call, pocketing her phone before looking up at Taro apologetically. "I'm sorry, I just got a call from my doctor. I've got to go, it was nice meeting you and having the opportunity to speak of my theory." She brushed past Taro; not once hesitating when he made to grab at her elbow.

"Wait, what about joining the taskforce?" Taro called; his voice raising in desperation as his threat hurried away, nobody but Death seeing Shuichi Aizawa from the very taskforce approaching on the footpath with his umbrella hiding his view. "What am I supposed to do now?!" Taro snarled as he watched Naomi's retreating form.

"You can always make the deal," Ryuk offered again.

"She needs to be eliminated!" Taro took a deep shuddering breath. "Hopefully nothing comes of this, maybe she'll back off after she hears about what the doctor has to say. It seemed to shock her."

' _Don't worry too much Taro, I'll be blurring her memory of this event_.' Death thought as he watched the panicking teen storm away. ' _Now I need to go and remind Naomi and Raye about the very real threat on their lives should they speak to anyone but L. Or I can simply wipe their memories and send them on their way.._.' That was a far more tempting option and Death would be more than happy to go about doing it should neither of them listen to him.

…


	16. J,J,E Chapter 12

"I can't believe I'm going to be a father!" Raye repeated as he held onto Naomi where they were seated upon the bed.

"I don't understand how you knew before I did," Naomi said, directing her comment to Death who was lounging against a wall.

Giving a careless shrug Death adjusted his position before answering. "Everything that lives eventually dies." Was all he gave in response. "I think that now you should both be aware of the risks you'll be making if you continue to go after Kira." He pointed out, gesturing to Naomi's stomach and the new life it now harboured. "I think you both should take off and lay low, Kira wouldn't hesitate to strike if he discovered you're both still alive and investigating him."

"Of course, we've already discussed our next move and will be leaving early tomorrow." Naomi stated, pointing out the pre-packed travel bags. "We've also memorised the message you want us to pass on to my mother. I just hope she'll understand why we have to do this." Naomi said, a tinge of sadness in her tone.

"It'll be fine, she'll understand why we have to do this. Just think how happy she'll be knowing she'll have a grandchild to dote on when all this is over." Raye said, comforting his finance. "And we can get married with the whole family together."

"Then I wish you both the best." Death left without another word, phasing through the wall and allowing his wings to catch an updraft that had him spiralling above the city. ' _Now all I need to take care of are the security tapes from the station. No doubt the taskforce are analysing them, I should be there to alter anything that reveals me. They should already be aware that Raye is still alive by now_.'

#

Ghosting through the roof of a skyscraper Death settled upon the ground and drew his wings close to his body as he observed the taskforce watching multiple screens displaying the station on the day of Raye's prevented death. They were already in conversation when Death came to a stop behind the crouched figure of L.

"Show me all the footage of Raye Penber when he entered the gates up until his death." L asked of Soichiro.

' _He still isn't aware that Raye is alive? Does he really distrust the Japanese police files over the F.B.I's_?' Death huffed as he watched Soichiro stand flustered for a few seconds before he reorganised his thoughts.

"Ryuuzaki, Raye Penber isn't listed among the casualties, he's still alive as far as anyone knows." Soichiro pointed out, even as he handed over the requested tapes.

L sat silently in thought for a moment before responding. "The ex-chief of the F.B.I found he could not get in contact with any of the agents, it's not that I doubt the skill of your police, but bodies can go years without discovery. And as Kira had a hand in the deaths of the eleven other agents, it's possible he had someone move Penber's body elsewhere." The tapes began to play and L moved on from the topic. "He entered through the Shinjaku Nishikuchi gates at 3.11pm. Just like his train card recorded. We can tell that it is Penber even though the image is fuzzy. He then boarded the Yamanotesen line at 3.13pm. We cannot see or determine who he was following at this point. Even if we enhanced the images, we still wouldn't know. And then here's his death…" L trailed off even as the scene played out on screen and Death watched silently over his shoulder.

The screens showed Raye getting off the train only to collapse, clutching his chest, as though he were having a heart-attack. People gathered around him in concern with their phones out and the tape clearly showed Death appearing out of thin air beside Raye, waving away people's concern and hurling the alive man to his feet as they left the scene. L stopped the tapes and re-wound them to when Death appeared out of thin air, his thumb rested on his lip as he and Soichiro watched in surprise as the scene played over and over.

"Perhaps it's simply a glitch on the tape." Soichiro said, disbelief evident in his tone. "Nobody is capable of invisibility, so unless Penber has gained a guardian angel, the person with him was somehow missed. It's a shame we can't see who it is, they would have been able to tell us what happened to Penber after they left the station." L made no comment, his thumb pressing heavily upon his lip even as his eyes showed that he was puzzling over Soichiro's 'guardian angel' comment and the letter about Shinigami left by Kira.

' _Right, you're focussing far too much on this, it's time for you both to disregard my sudden appearance_.' With a careless wave of his hand and a pulse of suggestive power, Death watched as the men blinked rapidly and allowed the tapes to cycle through.

"The envelope's gone?!" L suddenly exclaimed, startling the detectives in the room and confirming to Death that his power had worked. "At the gates and before entering the train, he had an envelope with him." L said, pointing it out.

"Envelope?" Shuichi asked, leaning over the couch and phasing partly through Death. Moving out of the way, he shuddered at the alien feeling of having someone pass though him, before watching the interaction. "Oh! You're right!" Shuichi exclaimed, his finger resting on the screen. "He's holding it here too." He said, pointing it out on another section of the tape.

"That's amazing Ryuuzaki! You notice the smallest details!" Touta chimed in, awe layering his tone.

"Something must have happened on the train." L revealed, even as he watched the tapes. "Please bring me all the footage of the Yamanotesen security camera's starting from the 27th. Also, on the footage of Penber's collapse, it seems as if he's trying to look towards the train before he was swarmed and escorted out." The screen displayed Penber was indeed straining to look into the train.

"Is this an important detail?" Soichiro asked from his position behind L and the couch.

"It would be pretty interesting if he was looking at Kira himself." L stated, tilting his head to eye Soichiro.

' _Now all you need is Raye's notes on Taro and everything will begin picking up again. Finally we're getting somewhere_.' Death ghosted through the chair and sat down beside L as he looked over the rest of the tapes. ' _Luckily nobody is going to focus on my appearance as anything other than a glitch_.' Though looking at L, Death knew that if he wanted to keep his identity secret he would have to be more cautious around the detective.

/:/:/

"What's wrong, Taro?" Ryuk asked; standing over the sitting teen. "You've been up late four nights in a row writing in the Death Note. Is it something to do with that woman the other day?"

"Never mind that, it's been days and nothing has come of it. I'm thinking that whatever she had to see her doctor about has consumed her thoughts. Hey, is it possible to set the dates for certain people's deaths?" Taro looked at Ryuk in askance even as he lounged back in his desk chair.

"Gods of death don't do that, we mostly write instant deaths. So technically…maybe." Ryuk responded with a clueless expression.

"You're so useless." Taro complained, not even reacting as Ryuk agreed with the insult.

"But why are you writing death's that occur weeks from now?" Ryuk asked of Taro.

"Hm, basically if I was suddenly hospitalized, the deaths keep going. It keeps people from thinking 'the deaths stopped when sub-chief Kagami's son was hospitalised'. So I'm doing this instead." Taro put the Death Note down, turning on his computer and looking at the files in agitation. ' _Since New Year's, dad's computer has no new data, and when I went to visit the station there was nobody there at the headquarters. So it's clear the investigation team has undergone a drastic change_.' Taro began to rapidly tap out on the keyboard commands that would erase his hacking traces to prevent anyone finding out what he'd been doing. ' _I know that Light isn't going to mention that we'd hung out to anyone. Denber is dead and that woman hasn't surfaced in days, so nobody should know I was on the bus and even if they were to discover it, Light would come under suspicion also. I should hide the cover of the Death Note, and my wallet.._.' Taro's thoughts trailed off as he pulled out some sewing equipment and began altering his wallet, hiding away a page of the Death Note and sewing up the altercation so it wasn't noticeable.

/:/:/

' _Is this what I'm getting myself into should I continue on the path of becoming an officer_?' Death groaned and shifted slightly on the couch as he watched the men work through stacks of tapes and papers. _'It's so much easier simply knowing who the criminal is and acting accordingly. Damn evidence. If only people were able to see the ghosts of the victims, then they'd have a guaranteed conviction. That being said…_ ' Death's thought's trailed off as he eyed L Lawliet's body in appreciation. ' _There's something that can come from working in close proximity to such an alluring creature, I'd be more than happy to work long shifts with him_.'

"Penber's fiancée?" The words caught and held Death's attention as he focused in on the sight of L on a phone. Quillsh Wammy had already brought up the appropriate file for L to pursue. L was silent as the person on the other end of the phone spoke, before nodding his head once and ending the call; handing the phone back to Touta. "Raye Penber and his fiancée came to Japan and stayed at the same hotel. A day after Raye vanished, Naomi disappeared. I believe that not only was Kira involved, but the mystery person who helped Raye from the station. Naomi's mother informed me that she'd been left a message to relay to us, that we should focus on the suspects Raye was tailing. I suspect that Raye and Naomi caught Kira's attention, as well as the mystery person and they were both spirited away to a safe location to keep Kira from discovering that they're both still alive." L paced the room, oblivious to the eyes that followed his every move in silent observation. "The list should be small. Please install hidden cameras and electronic bugs in all their homes." This order was met with immediate responses.

"No, no way! You can't do that in Japan!"

"No matter how powerful you are or what your background is, you can't do that. This is a major breach of privacy rights. If our bosses found out, we'd all lose our jobs and then the suspects…"

"Do you value your jobs over human lives?" L asked of the two outraged officers.

Death ignored the cries of outrage emitted from most of the gathered officers until Soichiro spoke up. "Who was Penber investigating at the time?"

Touta began to flip through the files. "From the 19th, Penber was investigating…" He broke off in shock as he looked at the paper.

"Sub-chief Kagami's family and chief Yagami's family. Please install cameras and electronic bugs in these households." L said with a straight face as he continued from where Touta cut off, looking straight at Soichiro's stunned face.

' _It's nice to know that those two are able to follow instructions after all_.' Death thought with a smile as he watched the outcome of the message he'd had delivered. ' _Watch out Taro, L's finally caught up. I wonder how you're going to operate with cameras within your home watching your every move_.' It didn't even occur to him that he'd have the same problem in his own home; after all, they were looking at Soichiro's family and Death wasn't a part of that no matter how he was treated. Death left without a backwards glance.

…


	17. J,J,E Chapter 13

"Please install cameras and electronic bugs in these two households." L ordered, looking straight into Yagami's horrified face. Not a hint of emotion showing through his mask.

"No way! I told you, that's illegal in Japan!" Matsuda loudly insisted.

"If anyone found out everyone here would be fired!" Aizawa repeated just as loudly.

"Then you must install them as discreetly as possible." L said as he looked at the pair of incensed officers.

"Ryuuzaki, what is the chance that Kira is actually in one of these families?" Yagami asked in a significantly calmer tone compared to his fellow officers.

L paused for a moment in thought, truly he believed that there was a significant percentage, but to keep the officers from reacting even worse, he lowered the percentage. "10 percent." He looked at the team. "No, more like five percent."

"Only five percent…" Matsuda and Aizawa still looked disapprovingly at him.

"Right, normally I'd want at least a 50 percent chance of being right before doing something like this." Aizawa stated.

"And even now, we still don't have a suspect. Even if one percent, we still have to investigate thoroughly." Yagami said sounding resigned.

"Does 'investigating thoroughly' mean installing illegal surveillance equipment? And in Kagami's and your home, no less?" Matsuda asked of the chief.

Chief Yagami fell silent, he and L eyeing one another before Yagami spoke up. "I cannot accept that my family is a suspect. Please install them." Adding quickly before he was interrupted. "Also, make sure every single angle of the house is being monitored. Even the bathroom." He said with conviction.

"Thank you for your cooperation, I was going to do that anyways." L stated.

"Director! What are you thinking?" Matsuda cried.

"You do know what this means right?" Aizawa asked.

"You have a daughter and a wife!" They both yelled at the same time, not noticing how Yagami was tensing up over the verbal attack.

"Of course I know! If we are going to find Kira then we are going to have to do everything we can! So shut your mouths!" Yagami snapped, turning away to rest his head in the palm of his hand.

"Sorry," Matsuda said, watching his superior rest against the wall in defeat.

"Don't worry, its fine." Yagami said without turning around, defeat not only in his tone but his posture also.

L walked over to the couch and sat upon it, knees brought up to his chest as he angled himself in order to see the other men in the room. "This requires some sacrifices. We will watch the families for seven days. Depending on how things go, we may stop early. Watari, when can you have the equipment ready?" L asked, turning to face the man.

"By tomorrow. We can install them as soon as we are positive that nobody is home." Watari replied to the ire of the taskforce, even as Yagami turned to listen to the answer. "I'm going to need a key to your son's apartment." The man said, directing his statement to Yagami.

"My son?" Yagami asked in confusion even as the others exchanged similar looks of confusion. "I don't have a son, only a daughter." Yagami clarified, looking over at L who was watching the events without expression.

"My apologies, we have one 'Light Yagami' listed as your son in our reports. It appears as though there needs to be an altercation. We do still need to gain access to his home as he is also a suspect due to his connections to you." L looked to Watari who nodded.

"As soon as possible would be better." Watari confirmed.

Yagami remained silent for a long moment, his face shadowed as he thought over the request the pair had made. "I'm sure I can get a copy of his key tonight if he's tutoring Sayu. If not I'll just take the original and convince him that I'd found it back home and was dropping it off after the cameras have been installed."

"If there's a chance you can get it tonight, you may leave." L dismissed, turning towards his laptop and files pen in hand as he began to alter the documents.

/:/:/

 **#January 8th#**

"Where are you going Taro?" Ryuk asked, floating above the sidewalk.

 _'Is there someone following us? Even though I'm outside I should keep it down when talking to Ryuk. There are no voice taps on my jacket…yet someone had defiantly been in my room and tried to hide it_. _'_ Taro fixed his jacket, looking over his shoulder before tuning into the conversation Ryuk had tried to carry out.

"Taro…"

"Ryuk, the house has had cameras and microphones installed in it." Taro said cutting Ryuk off rudely. "I'm being investigated."

"Oh? So is that why you didn't answer me? But, the little paper trap on your door didn't fall."

"That paper trap was a decoy, for people to think I'm determining whether or not someone snuck into my room. The actual trap is the door handle. But it isn't that accurate, so there's also the mechanical pencil lead." Taro didn't even bother explaining to Ryuk the background behind the traps. "The lead and the handle, someone has definitely been in my room." They entered the book shop, Taro heading directly for the books on spy cameras and electric bugs. It was as he was heading home he explained to Ryuk that he couldn't eat apples in the house because of the cameras. It was just as they reached the outside of Taro's home Ryuk finally agreed to locate the cameras and bugs, planning on disabling one so Ryuk could resume his apple eating.

/:/:/

Death cursed under his breath, shuffling through the items in his school bag before giving into temptation and upending the contents onto the floor. Books, papers and pens scattered everywhere as he knelt and began to sift through the mess. He was so intent on finding his missing key that he didn't even notice the camera following his every move, something he would have been able to pick up the moment he were to look. He tossed pens, papers and books back into his bag once he was sure his key wasn't amidst them.

"Where the hell?" He trailed off as he straightened up and slung his bag over his shoulder. He'd spent the night at the Yagami residence as it'd gotten late and Soichiro refused to allow him leave the house, he'd gone straight to school from there. He'd just pulled his phone out preparing to text Sayu if he'd left his key at her place when the elevator 'dinged' and the manager got off. "Afternoon." Death said in greeting, lowering his phone when the manager made a bee-line for him.

"This was left with me. I was told you'd forgotten it and he couldn't get it to you." The manager handed the key over and left without another word, not even waiting for Death's thanks.

He felt his eyebrows raise in surprise as he turned to his door and opened it, entering and swiftly closing the door behind him. "That was odd," He mused aloud, the man had been far friendlier when they'd last spoken. He dropped his bag in the entryway, looking at his sink where dishes had begun to pile up, his bathroom hamper which was once again overflowing with cloths and finally towards his bed which hadn't been made in who-knows-how-long. "When did I become such a slob?" He asked, running his fingers through his hair before heading straight to his bed and stripping it and the pillows bare, bundling it all up and adding it to the hamper that'd developed a clothing tower. "Okay," He gripped the handles and lifted the hamper, his vison becoming obscured by the clothing and linen piled up out of it, steadily making his way to the door.

He was still unaware of the multiple hidden eyes and ears within his home, each of them streaming live footage to the hotel room L and the taskforce members sat watching monitors streaming various people in different rooms doing different things. Taro Kagami and his family were currently being watched by Mogi, Aizawa, Ukita, and Matsuda, while Yagami and L watched the Yagami family and Light. L watched in amusement as the teenager struggled out of his apartment with his load, minutes passing before he returned hands free, walking over to the sink and the cutlery that awaited.

Death debated with himself long and hard about what he was going to do. On one hand, he wouldn't have to worry about the dirty dishes and the animals attracted to it, on the other, he really didn't want to do them. He was momentarily saved from making a decision when his phone rang, reaching into his pocket for it and answering without checking the caller-I.D. "Hello?" He picked up a dirty knife and began to idly twirl it.

"Hey Light, are you free this week?" Light pulled the phone away from his ear and eyed it with suspicion before slowly returning it. "I was wondering if you could help tutor me, exams are coming up and I'd really like to get into a good university." Taro finished, voice friendly despite the fact that Death knew Taro hated him.

"How did you even get this number? I asked before but you never answered, and on that thread, when did we become friends? In all the years we've known each other, we've never spoken outside of school, then without warning you've called me up twice." Death began poking at a pink gloopy mess of what had once been a strawberry, disgust pulling at the corners of his mouth as the stuff began to leak clear liquid prompting him to drop the knife into the sink with a loud clatter. "I'll think about it, I've got to go. There's chores and things I need to do." He hung up before Taro could respond, gritting his teeth as he rolled up his sleeves.

…


	18. J,J,E Chapter 14

"Let's get started Ryuk." Taro announced as he looked at the closed front door in determination, package secure under his arm.

"Find the cameras! Sounds interesting!" Ryuk cackled as he floated beside Taro. "By the way, Taro. Are you the only one who eats consommé flavoured chips in this family?"

"Yeah. Everyone else just eats original and seaweed flavoured. Only I eat consommé flavoured." Taro confirmed as he and Ryuk came closer to the front door. I'm home!" He called out as he entered the house. Minutes later he was lying upon his stomach on his bed with a porno magazine opened before him.

"Uh…I think I'll go find the cameras!" Ryuk said, head swinging from side to side as he floated away awkwardly. "I've found a camera in the air conditioner!" Ryuk announced, moments later, his head stuck within the machine whilst the rest of his body clung to the wall as though a four legged spider.

Taro gave no hint as to what he was thinking at that moment, simply closing the cover of the magazine and pulling himself up into a seated position. "Hah, I got tricked by the cover again…"

/:/:/

The tower of sugar cubes wobbled dangerously even as Death added another one to the ever growing pile. He was perched atop the kitchen table in order to remain on the same level as his tower, and it didn't even cross his mind that he could be doing other things with his time. He was just balancing another cube into the tower when he inadvertently shivered at the feeling of eyes watching him, the motion sending vibrations through the table sending his sugar cube tower tumbling towards the floor in all directions.

"Damn," He hissed in dismay, slumping as he surveyed the destruction. "Arch!" He lowered himself from the table and promptly began to clean the mess, tossing the cubes into a conveniently located bin and sweeping up the residual sugar. ' _I'm taking a shower._ ' The feeling of being watched increased, growing to the point where Death knew something was wrong. He allowed his eyes to flash crimson, the change happened so quickly it would never be spotted unless someone knew exactly what they were looking for. That brief scan told him all he needed to know though. His home was full of cameras. ' _This is all Taro's fault._ ' He continued to the shower, and if he took a little bit longer than necessary, it wasn't like anyone was going to call him out on it.

"Homework, movies." He weighed his two options, on one hand he could do his homework within minutes, on the other, movies were way more entertaining than homework would ever be. With a heavy sigh he pulled out his books and grabbed a pen, flying through the questions without even bothering to fully absorb what was being asked of him.

/:/:/


	19. YSG Chp 1 DAY 1

**Thank you AIRbooks and Mt-Cute for reviewing the last chapter.**

 **Day 1**

L couldn't understand why Quillsh had decided to send him to a school after all the years he'd spent home schooled. Perhaps it was because of his lack of social skills. Perhaps it was because of the town gossip about them. Either way, one day Quillsh had come home with forms to be filled out and signed. How he had managed to get his hands on forms for a prestigious private school when L hadn't even attended public schools, was a mystery. Quillsh claimed to have run into a nun on his way home from the police station; L had finished a case he'd been tasked with, and the nun had given him the forms. L suspected she'd dropped them and Quillsh had claimed them the moment he realized what they were for.

Despite his misgivings and outright refusals to attend the school, which for some reason was broadcasting itself in other countries such as England instead of its mainland Japan, L found himself on an empty train heading out of the city and into the mountains. He had yet to see any other soul on the train, which was highly unusual given the population density in Tokyo and the fact that Japan boasted the busiest train station in the world. The only other person he'd seen was the train driver, and the creepy red eyed man wasn't saying much outside of randomly emitted 'hyuk-hyuk-hyuks'. L suspected that Ryuk had limited upper brain functioning and was therefore incapable of carrying on a conversation. The train slowed to a stop and L glanced around at barren surroundings when Ryuk's voice crackled over the loudspeaker.

"Yagami School for the Gifted." Ryuk announced as the doors slid open. L got to his feet, dragging with him his heavy baggage, and stepped off the train onto the platform. "Hope you don't get eaten little human." Ryuk cackled as the doors closed and the train began to move.

' _Eaten? Little human_?' L brought his thumb to his lips and surveyed his surroundings, they hadn't changed from being a barren wasteland. With a heavy sigh he began to drag his luggage down a worn dirt path, dragging new shoes in order to turn them dusty. The uniform consisted of a black and red getup. Black pressed pants, red silk shirt, black blazer which bore a silver crest of two interlocked silver Crescent moons and a full moon resting above them, and horrid black leather enclosed shoes. L had forgone the red tie that he was supposed to wear.

His surroundings had begun to change, barren ground became lush green grass and crystal blue ponds. Tree stumps turned into large towering trees that shadowed the pathway. L looked back behind him to see he'd passed through a hidden archway that stretched over the path, the side he'd just come from a barren wasteland, the new side a flourishing one. ' _Curious_.' He continued to mull over the chosen design of the grounds when he walked, so lost in his thoughts that he missed the warning signs. It wasn't until he collided with a living mass that L snapped back into awareness just when he hit the ground, his fall softened by the grass.

L blinked dazedly for a moment, a heavy warm mass on sprawled out on top of him even as heavy breathing that wasn't his own reached his ears. When his eyes cleared L looked straight up into the most gorgeous pair of amber eyes he'd ever seen. The teenager was roughly his age and height, brunette hair, amber eyes, tanned skin and dressed impeccably in the school uniform, tie included, it seemed as though the teenager was also stunned into hesitation as they continued to look into each other's eyes in surprise.

"If I'd known that our relationship was going to start off this intimate, I would have asked for your name beforehand." L got out, causing the teenager to blush and roll off of him with a muttered apology. L dragged himself up so he was sitting cross legged and looked over at the attractive teen who was still blushing faintly and looking everywhere but at L. "You were running?" He asked, unsure as to how to start a conversation with the otherworldly being before him.

The teenager stiffened for a moment, eyes flickering rapidly over their surroundings even as he tilted his head in the direction he'd come from. "A group of fans." The teenager sighed and looked back at L, muscles loose. "I'm Light." He introduced, holding out a well-manicured hand.

"L," L reached out and shook Light's warm hand, tanned and pale skin mingling together. He gripped Light's hand tighter as he got to his feet, pulling the teen up with him.

"Thanks." Light brushed himself off, seemingly uncaring that L was still holding his hand. "Your first year here? It's my first time, I've mostly been home schooled my whole life." Light asked glancing up sharply at the sound of high pitched voices. "Hold that thought." L released Light's hand just as he caught sight of a small group of teenagers wearing the school uniform.

"Are those your fans?" L looked back to Light and felt his eyes widen in shock. Where the teenager once stood was now a pure white fox with golden tipped ears and tail. He felt his mouth begin to drop, frozen in place when the small, delicate fox scampered up his leg and curled around L's shoulders, tale wrapping around his neck as though a soft, fluffy scarf. "Where did…?" He trailed off when a high pitched voice cut him off.

"Where did he go?" A dark haired female asked, far more reserved then her blonde haired counterpart.

"Misa wants her Light. Where did Misa's Light go?!" The blonde screeched, blonde ponytails whipping around her hair as she tossed it around.

"Are we even sure our God went this way?" A bespectacled, dark haired male asked, catching sight of L in the process. "You, new boy, have you seen our most glorious God pass through here?" He demanded, leading the pair of females towards L.

"Ew, why would Misa's Light bother with someone like him?" The blonde, Misa, asked, disgust in her tone.

"Misa, there's no need to be rude." The darker haired female scolded. "Have you seen another teenager come past at all?" She asked, disdain dripping in her tone.

L simply gazed at them, refusing to answer such demands, especially in such a rude manner. "I haven't come across anyone other than you three simpletons. Though I hope for the sake of your quarry, you don't catch up." L breezed past the three stunned teenagers, constantly aware of the tiny heartbeat he could feel through his neck and the soft tickles of white fur and the way his luggage dragged behind him.

The moment they were out of sight of the three teenagers the white fox made its move. Leaping from L's shoulders and onto the ground, seemingly there one moment and gone the next. L blinked rapidly, looking around for the white fox and eyes only landing upon the teenager Light. The words 'does not compute' flashing within his mind as he felt reality give way.

"I'm sorry about them," Light was beginning to say, all the while L's mind was screaming ' _Fox_ '. "They're my unofficial fan club."-' _Fox_ '-"It was horribly rude of them to treat you that way."-' _He's a fox_ '-"I'm sorry that you had to meet them before you even started school."-' _How can that possibly be?!_ '-"But I'm sure that you'll make friends with some of the saner students."-' _Was I hallucinating the whole thing?_ '-"And hopefully it won't matter that I'm classified as a Legendary S-Class Monster."-' _It must be because I've gone for so long without sweets_.'-"It's not as though I hold the same believes other S-Classes do."-' _Yes that must be It_.'-"I'm okay with being friends with lower class monsters."-' _Monsters, he's said that quite a bit during this conversation. That must mean I didn't imagine it that really happened._ '

L did the only thing he could think of at that moment, instincts screaming at him to _retreat_ , so retreat he did. He darted off into the trees, completely missing the hurt expression that clouded Light's face, as he struggled to wrap his mind around what had happened. Instead of finding a place to escape to, he stumbled into a courtyard full of monsters he'd heard only in stories and other forms of fiction, luggage crashing into the back of his knees. L felt reality slip away from him as his situation dawned upon him. He was a lone human in a school of monsters.

…


	20. YSG Chp 2 DAY 1

Light had begun his first day of school looking down upon the gathering mass of monsters, mentally picking out students he knew by name, family or reputation. He could spot the son of a snow woman, Nate Rivers, or 'Near' as he preferred to be known as, white hair gleaming in the sunlight next to the blonde of Mihael Keehl a Phoenix otherwise known as 'Mello'. Mello's best friend Mail Jeeves; Matt to everyone else, stood beside them with a handheld in hand, the vampires attention unwavering.

He also immediately spotted his fan club. Kyomi Takada, a dark haired banshee, Teru Mikami, a bespectacled warlock and the girl his parents were trying to force him to marry, Misa Amane, a blonde haired harpy. He repressed a groan when her high pitched voice reached his hideaway, even all those feet in the air. How his parents thought she was a good match was beyond him. It didn't even matter in the long run, Light's monster species were capable of taking on both a male form and that of a female to ensure child birth. Light would be more then capable of carrying children should he find a male partner.

He watched the other monsters mingle with one-another with slight envy. Some were in their human guises, but others were showing their true forms in full display. Nobody shied away. Nobody whispered behind their back about how terrifying they were. Nobody else in the school was a Legendary S-Class Monster. He knew that most of the students down there were awaiting his appearance, they wanted to challenge him to prove how strong they were up against an S-Class. Light suspected that Rem, the office worker, or her brother Ryuk, the train driver, had 'let slip' his identity as the son of the school founder. He hadn't been left alone since.

He heard multiple footsteps approaching from behind, eyes quickly scanning the crowds he noticed immediately who was missing. Launching to his feet Light began to sprint down the hallway, a high pitched voice following him even as footsteps became pounding as they gave chase. Light flew down staircases and halls, dodging various obstacles, students and teachers even as he made it to the front doors. He froze for a moment, seemingly everybody's eyes turning to him, before the sound of raised voices reached his ears and he pushed through the crowd earning curses and mutters.

Why couldn't they understand that he just wanted to be left alone? That he was just like them? He pushed his way to the edge of the crowd and stopped to even out his breathing, nobody was looking in his direction so he was easily able to spot the three that were. Mikami's eyed focusing upon him even as he gestured towards Light, gaining Misa and Takada's attention. They began to push their way towards him and Light took off down the worn path that lead to the train station, all the while cursing the fact that his parents had forced him to attend school in the first place.

He was looking over his shoulder, not paying attention to what was in front of him as he was far more concerned about what he was fleeing from behind, when he ploughed right into a warm body and they fell to the ground in a tangled heap. He felt his heart leap into his throat as he looked down upon the form beneath him. Pale skin, dark hair, obviously foreign and _drop dead gorgeous._ His inner monster growled his approval of the lovely specimen beneath him, he could feel the hidden muscles as they tensed and worked together even as he remained locked in a staring contest. ' _Mine_.' His inner monster decided, satisfaction dripping in its tone.

He couldn't help but feel surprised at that, he knew that at some point in his life he would meet someone who called to not only him but to his monster side also, he never expected to find that person so quickly. Especially on the first day he'd been allowed off the family estate. Even as he continued to gaze down into grey eyes he felt himself slowly beginning to melt into the firm form beneath him in contentment. It didn't matter if they'd literally just run into each other, he'd found his other half and would be happy with the unknown teenager.

"If I'd known that our relationship was going to start off this intimate, I would have asked for your name beforehand." The stranger said, causing the Light to blush in embarrassment and roll off of him with a muttered apology. The other teen dragged himself up so he was sitting cross legged and looked over at Light who could still feel himself blushing faintly and was struggling to look everywhere but at the other teenager. "You were running?"

Light stiffened at the reminder, silently cursing, even as his eyes flickered rapidly over their surroundings even as he tilted his head in the direction he'd come from struggling to hear footsteps. "A group of fans." He sighed in a mixture of relief and irritation and looked back at the other, muscles loose and relaxed. "I'm Light." He introduced, holding out a well-manicured hand.

"L," L reached out and shook Light's warm hand, sending a pleasant shock through him at the contact. L gripped his hand tighter as L got to his feet, pulling Light up with him.

"Thanks." Light brushed himself off, screaming happily internally as L was still holding his hand. "Your first year here? It's my first time, I've mostly been home schooled my whole life." Light asked glancing up sharply at the sound of high pitched voices, dread filling him at what he was about to do. "Hold that thought." L released Light's hand just as they caught sight of Misa, Mikami and Takada. Light used the moment of L's distraction to his advantage, shifting into his fox form and waiting for L to turn his attention back.

"Are those your fans?" L looked back to Light and his eyes widened in shock. Where the teenager once stood was now a pure white fox with golden tipped ears and tail. L's mouth began to drop, and Light seized the opportunity to scampered up L's leg and curl around his shoulders, tale wrapping around L's neck as though a soft, fluffy scarf in order to secure his hold and remain hidden from sight. "Where did…?" L trailed off when a high pitched voice cut him off.

"Where did he go?" Takada asked, demandingly, though far more restrained then Misa.

"Misa wants her Light. Where did Misa's Light go?!" The blonde screeched, ponytails whipping around her hair as she tossed it around. Light flinching at the high pitched noise that bombarded his sensitive eardrums.

"Are we even sure our God went this way?" Mikami asked, catching sight of L in the process. "You, new boy, have you seen our most glorious God pass through here?" He demanded, leading the pair of females towards L and Light.

"Ew, why would Misa's Light bother with someone like him?" Misa, asked, disgust in her tone.

"Misa, there's no need to be rude." Takada scolded, though her eyes still flashed cruelly. "Have you seen another teenager come past at all?" She asked, disdain dripping in her tone.

"I haven't come across anyone other than you three simpletons. Though I hope for the sake of your quarry, you don't catch up." L breezed past the three stunned teenagers, much to Light's relief. The moment they were out of sight of the three teenagers Light made his move. Leaping from L's shoulders and onto the ground, seemingly there one moment and gone the next.

"I'm sorry about them," Light said. "They're my unofficial fan club. It was horribly rude of them to treat you that way. I'm sorry that you had to meet them before you even started school. But I'm sure that you'll make friends with some of the saner students. And hopefully it won't matter that I'm classified as a Legendary S-Class Monster. It's not as though I hold the same believes other S-Classes do. I'm okay with being friends with lower class monsters." Throughout his one-sided conversation Light could see the turmoil in L's grey eyes, the various points that eventually lead up to L doing what he did.

L darted off into the trees, completely missing the hurt expression that clouded Light's face, as he was hit with rejection from the person his inner monster had chosen as a Mate. He wrapped his arms around himself in order to gain a sense of comfort, remembering the feeling of safety he'd felt wrapped around L's neck. They were all the same. People refused to look past the fact that he was a Legendary S-Class Monster. Those who did only saw a challenge or a betrothal prospect. He slowly walked the route L had taken off on, accepting that his time at school would be a lonely one.

…


	21. YSG Chp 3 DAY 1

Monsters. Everywhere. L retreated to the safety of the trees, clutching the handle of his luggage bag in his sweaty palm as he stared wide-eyed at the mass of humanoid students and those that were clearly the furthest thing from human. He was able to absently note the various monsters he'd read about, heart racing in fear everything it looked as though someone so much as looked in his direction. ' _What should I do_?' The sound of crackling filled the courtyard as speakers came to life, students turning to face the entrance of the school as silence fell across the crowd.

" _Attention all students, attention all students. Welcome to the Yagami School for the Gifted, or YSG for short. Attached to the notice boards you will find your name, class and room number, we encourage you to head straight for your dormitories and get settled in. You will find your timetables, maps and other information within your dorm rooms. We hope you have a pleasant school year here with us, but first, some ground rules. No student is permitted to force another to reveal their monster identity. No students are to attack, challenge or kill another. The train to the human world runs only one day a week, every Monday at 9am, if going to the human world you are reminded to go in your mortal forms. Curfew is 7pm with dinner at 5pm, kitchen closes at 6pm. Any questions can be answered within your packages within your rooms. Again, we hope you all do your best and have a pleasant time here at YSG."_

L's heart had dropped at the mention of the train schedule, how was he supposed to flee now? And he had to share with a monster? Despite L having come from money, and made quite a bit on his own, Quillsh had decided not to allow L his own room, claiming that it would help his social skills if he was forced to live with another. Quillsh had clearly never taken into account the possibility of L ending up at a monster school.

The crowd had begun to move towards the notice boards, groups parting away towards two buildings in the distance with luggage carried behind them. L could try getting his own room, but judging by the number of students he doubted he would gain access to one immediately. All he could rely on was the rule stating that nobody was allowed to force another to reveal their monster identity, but that could only last for so long. The crowd had thinned significantly, L now stood amongst the stragglers and no longer could he put off the inevitable. He approached the notice board with his heart in his throat.

He scanned the hundreds of names before he came across his own. _L Lawliet: room 242; building B_. Was typed in a column, with a sigh and heart thumping wildly, L followed the small trickle of students down a tree-lined brick pathway that led to two identical multi-story buildings with the letters 'A' and 'B' painted on their fronts to distinguish them. 'A' block was clearly for females, clusters of girls stood outside talking loudly, 'B' block was for boys, and only nobody stood outside the building for long. L didn't linger, steeling himself L entered the lion's den. He took the elevator up instead of the stairs, unwilling to allow himself the time to talk himself out of what he was doing, the doors opened and L carried his luggage down a crowded hallway until he reached his room.

He took a deep calming breath and swung the door open. The room that greeted him was uniform in its unoriginality. The door opened to a small common area where the kitchen joined the study area, there were three doors that would lead to what L assumed was the bedrooms and the bathroom. A quick check behind said doors proved him right. Choosing the unoccupied bedroom on the left, L dropped his luggage and collapsed upon the bed with his head in his hands.

' _What was he going to do? How was he going to survive until the following Monday?_ ' He felt his breathing increase and he fought to calm his breathing and heart. He would manage, he could act his way through the days until he was able to leave. He heard the door open and someone shuffling though, electronic beeping filling the room. Gritting his teeth and getting to his feet, L walked into the main room with a forced smile.

His roommate was a red head, eyes hidden behind orange goggles, dressed in a black and white striped sweater with a faux fur vest over top and a pair of tight blue jeans and black ankle boots. An unlit cigarette hung from the corner of his mouth and his focus was solely on the handheld he had clutched in his glove clad hands.

"Names Matt, you?" The redhead said and asked without looking up once.

"L," He replied, slowly easing into the conversation. Matt looked like a normal teenager, L couldn't believe that he was actually a monster in disguise. "Nice to meet you." He prayed his roommate wouldn't kill him in his sleep.

/:/:/

Light hadn't bothered to join the crowd in front of the notice boards, he was already well aware of where he'd be staying for the school year. Instead he hung back and watched as happy students wondered off in groups, not one of them aware of how jealous Light was of their easy comradeship. He heaved a sigh and followed the main clusters, keeping his head down to avoid unwanted attention before he slipped into building 'B' and rode the elevator up to the top floor where all the single dorm rooms were located. The rooms were for the wealthy students, or the ones who had to be separated from others to limit any fights breaking out. Light fit into both of those categories, his family were wealthy and he was an S-Class Monster. It helped that his family owned the school.

He opened his door and walked in, closing it firmly behind him as he took stock of his surroundings for the second time that day. Large kitchen/study area that led out to a balcony that overlooked the school gardens, one bedroom off to the right and a moderate sized bathroom that also held a small laundry. It was one thing he was happy about, he may have to suffer through school, but at least he'd have his privacy. ' _Not as though it'd matter much considering nobody is willing to give me a chance._ '

The sound of the bell echoed throughout the buildings and across the school grounds. With a long sigh, Light picked up his information folder and book bag then promptly left his room, joining the flood of students heading off to their first period classes. Light had history first period followed by advanced mathematics. He was quick to spot Misa, Kyomi and Teru under the shade of the main building, he purposely avoided them and in doing so spotted Matt, Mello, Near and the guy he'd run into earlier, L, walking in the same direction he was.

He bit his tongue and kept walking, this time he refused to allow himself to melt into the shadows, straightening his posture and walking with his head held high. If the other students were going to treat him as a pariah then he'd act the way they'd expect him to. S-Class Monsters were treated like royalty, people feared them but at the same time went out of their way to challenge them to prove themselves. Light had no interest in such things, but he was willing to do so to prevent himself from being harmed. He'd made an overture of friendship only to be shot down, he didn't want to be hurt in making another mistake.

Upon entering the building Light headed straight for his classroom, faring a lot better than the other students who were referring to their maps and fellow students. He could hear Near's group following behind him as Mello complained loudly about the rules against monsters fighting one another, Near and Matt added their opinions but L remained quiet on the topic. ' _Perhaps he's a weak monster species._ ' Thinking back on it, Light didn't pick up on a monster vibe from the other teenager. ' _Not that it matters_.' He entered the classroom, the first to enter it, and sat within the middle row near the open window. The quartet entered after he did, suspicious glances thrown his way as the group sat a distance away from him. He was aware of L's dark eyes upon him.

…


	22. YSG Chp 4 DAY 1

L was hyper aware of the brunet teenager sitting by the window even as the classroom steadily filled and the group he'd entered with continued to chatter. He'd been informed that Matt was a vampire, Mello a phoenix and Near the son of a snow woman, they never pressed for his monster class and he never offered one in substitute.

"Alright, quiet down, quiet down. Today is your first lesson, to start things off we'll be learning all about the S-Class War." The teacher walked in, glasses glinting in the sunlight and suited back ramrod straight. "What can anyone tell me about the subject?" She asked, looking around the room in askance which slowly gave way to disapproval.

' _I have no bloody idea what you're even on about woman. I studied human wars_.' L kept his mouth shut and attempted to remain inconspicuous so he wouldn't be called upon.

"The S-Class War started in 1536 and ended in 1720 when the leader of the rebel forces was killed."

L and the rest of the class turned around to stare at Light in surprise, though the teenager refused to acknowledge the gazes, his eyes locked firmly outside of the classroom as though he'd never opened his mouth.

"Correct." The teacher said with a nod, quickly writing up notes upon the whiteboard.

"Of course he's correct, he's father fought in that war." Mello muttered darkly even as Near nodded in silence.

' _His father fought in that war? That would make him centuries old!_ ' Though considering what L was currently living through, the idea of people living for centuries wasn't as unbelievable as it once was.

"Can anyone tell me who the leader of the rebel forces was? And who stood against him?" The teacher turned to face the class once again having finished writing up notes, marker in hand as she surveyed the room.

"Wasn't it a Kitsune?" Near asked, his voice soft but still loud enough to draw attention. "Both leaders were Kitsune, I remember that from the story books…" He trailed off, ignoring the look the teacher was giving him. "I don't believe that it was ever recorded who the leaders were though."

' _Not recorded?_ ' L looked around the room to see various nods of agreement from all but Light who remained silent. ' _What's the point in asking if it's unknown?_ '

"Yes, the names of the leaders was never recorded, instead we rely on stories that have been passed down by those who were in the war. Has anybody heard such tales?" The teacher's eyes seemed to be fixated upon Light even as the teenager ignored the pointed gaze. "From what I remember, your father was in the war Light, do you have anything to add?"

L could see the way Light clenched his hands into fists, fingers whitening under the pressure even as he finally graced the teacher with a look. "My father, Soichiro Yagami was the leader of the side that went up against the rebels who were led by my older brother, Kira Yagami, if you're so desperate for information on the subject you should go talk with him. He was there." Light's voice was low, cold and dangerous, many of the students closest to him moved slightly away from him even as he continued to glare at the teacher.

' _His older brother and his father were at literal war with one another?_ ' L couldn't even begin to imagine what that would have been like. ' _I wonder how old Light is, whether he was there or not_.' Considering that Light had told the teacher to talk to his father on the subject, L was sure he wasn't that old. ' _Though I now know he's a Kitsune_.' Not that L could have doubted it after the teenager had turned into a white fox earlier in the day.

/:/:/

Light couldn't understand why the teacher had never even bothered to ask the survivors of the war for details around it, the sooner there were in depth history books on the subject the sooner they'd all be left alone. Light had never met his older brother, only ever knowing his younger sister born six years after him, but from what small fragments he'd been able to gather, he and Kira were practically doppelgangers. ' _Though I'm referred to as the 'golden' one and he the 'crimson' one._ ' Light copied out the notes that the teacher was writing upon the board, though he'd never be able to repeat what she was saying as his mind wondered away from events within the room.

"…groups will be unchanged for the rest of the year. Groups of three are the maximum with groups of two the minimum, now hop to it."

The sound of raised voices and chairs and desks moving had Light looking around in confusion, having missed entirely of what was said, he remained seated as he watched students separate themselves into groups of three and two, quickly catching on that they had already been given an assignment that would be a group project.

' _Maybe if I'm really lucky I can remain as a single member team._ ' With the way things were progressing he wouldn't be surprised if that was how things played out. Most groups had already been formed, the stragglers hurrying to join up with groups or one another leaving only Light and one other student ungrouped. ' _Just my luck_.' He thought sourly as the teacher firmly directed L Lawliet over to Light's lonely desk. L dropped into the empty seat, face void of any emotion even as he glared at the teacher instead of showing any attention to Light.

"Good, now that the groups have been established, let's move on." The teacher began to quickly write up instructions upon the board before facing the class once again. "You and your team will have two weeks to complete a paper on the S-Class wars. It doesn't matter which side you choose to represent, or even if you decide to do both, you will need the key players of the war, the cause of the war, and answers to the other questions that can be found upon your printouts." She held up a paper that'd been printed on. "Papers must be in on the due date, or you will receive an automatic fail. All team members must contribute, if I hear about students not pulling their weight, they will receive another paper to complete as punishment." The bell signaling the end of class sounded and everyone got to their feet. "Please remember to grab your printouts." The teacher called over the noise even as Light stood from the desk and walked around L who hadn't moved.

Light waited impatiently for the students to disperse from the teacher's desk before grabbing a paper and leaving the room. He headed straight for his advanced mathematics class, ears ringing from the sound of raised voices as students struggled to find their classrooms, moving around those who insisted on blocking the hallways. He absently brought his fingers to his temple as he rubbed at the slight headache that was slowly forming from all the noises he was being subjected to. The thought of returning back to homeschooling crossing his mind more the once as he found his classroom and entered the slightly quieter room. He'd completely forgotten that he would need to schedule with L so they could work on their shared paper.

…


	23. YSG Chp 5 DAY 2

L had gone to bed late the first night despite knowing that he'd regret it in the morning. It was hard to sleep when knowing that at any moment his secret could be exposed and Matt ended up eating him for breakfast. His notorious insomnia kept him up as well, so he spent the night hours cramming in as much information as he could about the world he found himself in. It appeared that there were plenty of human based monsters, but the higher Classes would peg him as a human the moment they challenged him. ' _At least the rules protect me somewhat in that regard._ ' He'd thought at the time. Now, in the light of a new day, he wasn't so sure.

He had finished all the assignments; those he could do on his own, that night. The first day of classes had been planned so that each class was only a few minutes long to allow for every class to be attended within the first day. So L had attended every class he was signed into, had finished every assignment he could and now knew where all his rooms were.

' _So how it I've found myself completely is lost on the way to the tennis courts?_ ' He thought as he traveled down yet another empty concrete path through what he believed were the botanical gardens. ' _It would explain the flowers._ '

Resigned to being not only late for class but lost in what he now knew was an elaborate maze, L slowed his pace to his usual crawl and studied the flowers and shrubbery around him. Some he recognized, sunflowers, blue bells, daffodils and a variety of lilies. Others he didn't. Like the large blooming blue flowers with red centers that followed him when he passed by, or the yellow flowers that appeared to be weeping gold dust. Another turn brought the sight of the B block into view, in the distance, only the upper floors would be able to see the garden.

' _The floors where the rich and dangerous are housed._ ' L recalled, a conversation he'd had with Matt, Mello and near coming to the forefront of his mind. ' _I'm not sure whether or not I should be thankful that Watari refused to allow me my own room, or still mad that he refused me my own room._ ' On one hand L had a monster roommate, and though Matt was cool, he could have been completely different. On the other hand, L could have had his own space, not run the risk of exposing his very human nature and made it safely till the next week, but he would be surrounded by the baddest of the bad.

He turned another corner which took the view of the B block away, his footsteps silent upon the concrete until they suddenly began to make squelching noises. Glancing down in confusion a look of concern crossed L's face when he spotted the copious amounts of congealing blood. Slowing his pace even further, heart beginning to pound because what could _he_ had gone to bed late the first night despite knowing that he'd regret it in the morning. It was hard to sleep when knowing that at any moment his secret could be exposed and Matt ended up eating him for breakfast. His notorious insomnia kept him up as well, so he spent the night hours cramming in as much information as he could about the world he found himself in. It appeared that there were plenty of human based monsters, but the higher Classes would peg him as a human the moment they challenged him. ' _At least the rules protect me somewhat in that regard._ ' He'd thought at the time. Now, in the light of a new day, he wasn't so sure.

He had finished all the assignments; those he could do on his own, that night. The first day of classes had been planned so that each class was only a few minutes long to allow for every class to be attended within the first day. So L had attended every class he was signed into, had finished every assignment he could and now knew where all his rooms were.

' _So how it I've found myself completely is lost on the way to the tennis courts?_ ' He thought as he traveled down yet another empty concrete path through what he believed were the botanical gardens. ' _It would explain the flowers._ '

Resigned to being not only late for class but lost in what he now knew was an elaborate maze, L slowed his pace to his usual crawl and studied the flowers and shrubbery around him. Some he recognized, sunflowers, blue bells, daffodils and a variety of lilies. Others he didn't. Like the large blooming blue flowers with red centers that followed him when he passed by, or the yellow flowers that appeared to be weeping gold dust. Another turn brought the sight of the B block into view, in the distance, only the upper floors would be able to see the garden.

' _The floors where the rich and dangerous are housed._ ' L recalled, a conversation he'd had with Matt, Mello and Near coming to the forefront of his mind. ' _I'm not sure whether or not I should be thankful that Watari refused to allow me my own room, or still mad that he refused me my own room._ ' On one hand L had a monster roommate, and though Matt was cool, he could have been completely different. On the other hand, L could have had his own space, not run the risk of exposing his very human nature and made it safely till the next week, but he would be surrounded by the baddest of the bad.

He turned another corner which took the view of the B block away, his footsteps silent upon the concrete until they suddenly began to make squelching noises. Glancing down in confusion a look of concern crossed L's face when he spotted the copious amounts of congealing blood. Slowing his pace even further, heart beginning to pound because what could _he_ a _human_ do? L edged further along the path, unable to dodge around the blood that covered the footpath. His hands shot to his mouth to silence his gasp.

The body was shredded beyond recognition. Blood and viscera covered the path and surrounding plants, the pale form indistinguishable due to its mangled nature. What he could make out where the colors of the school uniform. ' _It's a student._ ' L couldn't do anything for them, they were long dead. Desensitized from his many cases, L scanned for anything that could point towards a suspect without touching the body. Aside from claw marks in the concrete and the body itself, L couldn't find anything that would help. ' _And with the way the blood has splattered has hidden any drops that would have come from the killer._ ' Though L was certain that the killer would have been drenched in the blood of the victim. ' _I need to alert somebody so this can be handled._ ' Though he wasn't sure who to call in the event of a monster murder. The school office perhaps?

He was just about to make a mark so he could find his way back when the sound of approaching footsteps caught his attention and he made the split second decision to intervene the on-comer before the scene was disturbed further than it already had been by him. When he rounded the corner he spotted the male before he himself was noticed. Light's head was bowed and his arms were wrapped around him as though seeking comfort and his teeth worried his lip. L watched the teen in silence, heart stuttering unexpectedly and the urge to protect and comfort rising within him. L pushed those feelings to the side and called out for the teen to stop.

/:/:/

 _Anger burned within him, chocking him on its thickness and leaving a burning feeling throughout his throat and heart._ How dare they? _Familiar features became present as he tore down the stairs of the building and headed for the nearby garden._ They would pay for abandoning him on the battle field. _He spotted his prey just entering the garden maze. A grin stretched across his lips, baring his teeth even as canines elongated and his body shifted into his third form._ He would make them all pay. _He stalked close to the ground, silent and deadly. His prey didn't know what was coming._ He would make them suffer. _He struck when his prey least expected it. Teeth and claws shredding through fabric, skin, flesh and bone as though it was nothing but butter. Blood coated his body, matting his fur and staining it brilliant red._ Starting with their children. _His prey didn't even have the chance to scream, throat torn out in a bloody mess in the first attack. Blood, thick, coppery and delicious filled his mouth._ He could feel consciousness fighting for control. _He had his targets planned out. He would resurrect his Mate._

Light jerked awake with a jagged gasp, eyes flying open to the pre-dawn darkness. The nightmare clawing at his mind much like he did to his…He shoved the thought away and reached for his bedside lamp. Switching it on and releasing a shriek of horror as he gazed down at his blood soaked form.

Blood stained his skin, bed clothes and the sheets, the metallic tang filling the air and sending his stomach reeling as he launched himself from his bed and shot straight for his bathroom. He reached the toilet just as bile rose up and he hurled painfully into the toilet as tremors shook his frame. His eyes were squeezed shut as his stomach emptied its contents, the worrying taste of what Light thought was blood lingering in his mouth along with the foul burning taste of bile when he was done. Cracking his eyes slightly Light felt them fly open in disgust and horror when he saw that what he'd brought back up was mostly blood. The sight caused his stomach to spasm once again and his body tried to forcefully eject more of its contents, but as he had nothing to bring up he just experienced the pain of going through the motions.

He acted on autopilot. Flushing the evidence he returned to his room and stripped the bed of the bloody sheets, hurling them to the washing machine and throwing them and his bloody clothes into the machine and starting it. By that stage the blood had begun to dry on his skin leaving it tacky and Light took the longest and hottest, scalding hot, shower he'd ever taken as he scrubbed away evidence. ' _I need bleach._ ' It was the first recognizable thought he'd had since awakening and Light would follow it. He didn't bother drying off when he stepped out of the shower heading straight to the cupboard that held cleaning supplies and grabbed gloves and bleach. He spent three hours scrubbing everything over and over again to be sure and another two in the shower. He was thankful that the washing machine had taken care of the blood stains as they didn't have enough time to set, the hot water he'd washed them in helped to. By the time he was finished he'd missed breakfast and first period and second was well on its way to starting. He didn't feel up to attending class. He planned on going back to the murder site to see if what had happened _actually_ happened. He hoped it was some sort of twisted prank someone pulled on him. As he neared the sight, and sickness steadily began to swirl within him, Light knew that what he'd dreamt had actually happened. He ran into L, his potential Mate before he got there.

…

A _human_ do? L edged further along the path, unable to dodge around the blood that covered the footpath. His hands shot to his mouth to silence his gasp.

The body was shredded beyond recognition. Blood and viscera covered the path and surrounding plants, the pale form indistinguishable due to its mangled nature. What he could make out where the colors of the school uniform. ' _It's a student._ ' L couldn't do anything for them, they were long dead. Desensitized from his many cases, L scanned for anything that could point towards a suspect without touching the body. Aside from claw marks in the concrete and the body itself, L couldn't find anything that would help. ' _And with the way the blood has splattered has hidden any drops that would have come from the killer._ ' Though L was certain that the killer would have been drenched in the blood of the victim. ' _I need to alert somebody so this can be handled._ ' Though he wasn't sure who to call in the event of a monster murder. The school office perhaps?

He was just about to make a mark so he could find his way back when the sound of approaching footsteps caught his attention and he made the split second decision to intervene the on-comer before the scene was disturbed further than it already had been by him. When he rounded the corner he spotted the male before he himself was noticed. Light's head was bowed and his arms were wrapped around him as though seeking comfort and his teeth worried his lip. L watched the teen in silence, heart stuttering unexpectedly and the urge to protect and comfort rising within him. L pushed those feelings to the side and called out for the teen to stop.

/:/:/

 _Anger burned within him, chocking him on its thickness and leaving a burning feeling throughout his throat and heart._ How dare they? _Familiar features became present as he tore down the stairs of the building and headed for the nearby garden._ They would pay for abandoning him on the battle field. _He spotted his prey just entering the garden maze. A grin stretched across his lips, baring his teeth even as canines elongated and his body shifted into his third form._ He would make them all pay. _He stalked close to the ground, silent and deadly. His prey didn't know what was coming._ He would make them suffer. _He struck when his prey least expected it. Teeth and claws shredding through fabric, skin, flesh and bone as though it was nothing but butter. Blood coated his body, matting his fur and staining it brilliant red._ Starting with their children. _His prey didn't even have the chance to scream, throat torn out in a bloody mess in the first attack. Blood, thick, coppery and delicious filled his mouth._ He could feel consciousness fighting for control. _He had his targets planned out. He would resurrect his Mate._

Light jerked awake with a jagged gasp, eyes flying open to the pre-dawn darkness. The nightmare clawing at his mind much like he did to his…He shoved the thought away and reached for his bedside lamp. Switching it on and releasing a shriek of horror as he gazed down at his blood soaked form.

Blood stained his skin, bed clothes and the sheets, the metallic tang filling the air and sending his stomach reeling as he launched himself from his bed and shot straight for his bathroom. He reached the toilet just as bile rose up and he hurled painfully into the toilet as tremors shook his frame. His eyes were squeezed shut as his stomach emptied its contents, the worrying taste of what Light thought was blood lingering in his mouth along with the foul burning taste of bile when he was done. Cracking his eyes slightly Light felt them fly open in disgust and horror when he saw that what he'd brought back up was mostly blood. The sight caused his stomach to spasm once again and his body tried to forcefully eject more of its contents, but as he had nothing to bring up he just experienced the pain of going through the motions.

He acted on autopilot. Flushing the evidence he returned to his room and stripped the bed of the bloody sheets, hurling them to the washing machine and throwing them and his bloody clothes into the machine and starting it. By that stage the blood had begun to dry on his skin leaving it tacky and Light took the longest and hottest, scalding hot, shower he'd ever taken as he scrubbed away evidence. ' _I need bleach._ ' It was the first recognizable thought he'd had since awakening and Light would follow it. He didn't bother drying off when he stepped out of the shower heading straight to the cupboard that held cleaning supplies and grabbed gloves and bleach. He spent three hours scrubbing everything over and over again to be sure and another two in the shower. He was thankful that the washing machine had taken care of the blood stains as they didn't have enough time to set, the hot water he'd washed them in helped to. By the time he was finished he'd missed breakfast and first period and second was well on its way to starting. He didn't feel up to attending class. He planned on going back to the murder site to see if what had happened _actually_ happened. He hoped it was some sort of twisted prank someone pulled on him. As he neared the sight, and sickness steadily began to swirl within him, Light knew that what he'd dreamt had actually happened. He ran into L, his potential Mate before he got there.

…


End file.
